While the English and French news media continue to produce a steady stream of anti-Israel vitriol, including platforming glorifiers of Palestinian terrorism, and those making unfounded and dangerous accusations of “genocide,” those behind some Arabic-language media outlets are going even further.
Nazih Khatatba, the editor of Meshwar media, a Mississauga, Ontario-based Arabic newspaper, has long spread hateful anti-Israel and anti-Jewish content on social media and in his publication, and he has done so again recently.
In multiple screeds in June, Khatatba compared Israel to Nazi Germany, including writing on June 18 in Arabic that “Israeli Nazi occupation forces are killing Palestinians in Gaza at aid centers. Even Nazi Hitler didn’t do it.” Comparing Israeli policy to the Nazis is a clear-cut example of anti-Jewish hate speech according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
However, Khatatba’s accusations that Israel is shooting civilians and aid workers would have him fit in very well alongside CBC News reporters, who have been incessantly making the same unsubstantiated claims.
Khatatba’s vile language is not reserved just to his personal social media platforms. The May 31 edition of his newspaper not only compared Israel to Nazi Germany, but made the eyebrow-raising claim that “Israel’s fascist crimes in Gaza have surpassed the horrors of the Nazi gas ovens and show no signs of stopping.”
While most Canadians would roll their eyes at such lunacy, comparing Israeli counter-terrorism operations to the Nazi’s murder of six million Jews, Khatatba’s words are only marginally more ludicrous than the bile being repeated on many other mainstream news media outlets, where Israel is regularly accused of “genocide” with no attempt to set the record straight.
Another Arabic-language outlet, Montreal-based Journal Sada Almashrek, which has evolved into an online magazine called sadaonline, has produced similarly repugnant content, and not for the first time, as it has previously featured a column praising Palestinian massacres of October 7, 2023 as a “great victory.”
A video clip shared on its Facebook (Meta) page featured protesters expressing their support for Iran’s missile attacks on Tel Aviv. They chanted, “Oh Allah, salute the Iranian who struck Tel Aviv with the Khaybar missile.” The Khaybar missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers and can carry a warhead weighing 1,500 kilograms. Many of the Iranian missiles were deliberately aimed at urban areas.
Another video posted the same day on Journal Sada Almashrek’s Facebook page featured an assembled crowd in Montreal chanting in Arabic “There is only one solution/intifada, revolution.” Intifada refers to a campaign of Palestinian terrorism, but lest that message was too subtle, other chants were even clearer, with the crowd chanting “long live the resistance” and “we are all the resistance of Iran.”
The previous day, Journal Sada Almashrek posted on Facebook clear incitement to violence, featuring a video showing chants of “oh martyr, rest in peace – we will continue the struggle,” and “oh youth, join, join (the jihad),” as well as “we will sacrifice our soul and blood for Palestine,” while another video showed Arabic chants of “long live the resistance,” a clear reference to Palestinian terrorism.”
Interestingly, while mainstream Canadian news media outlets race to cover every seemingly anti-Israel protest, they have done a remarkable job at hiding the explicit hate speech and support for Islamic terrorism that have become hallmarks of these demonstrations.
Meshwar Media and Journal Sada Almashrek, may seem like marginal publications that can be ignored, but they represent a large and growing demographic in Canada of Arabic speakers, many of whom receive their news from outlets like those, which spread vile hatred and which goes virtually unnoticed by the Canadian public. Canadians ignore such extremism to their peril.
