In recent weeks, there has been extensive media coverage of the events in Israel and Gaza, following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. CBC News journalists Chris Brown and Saša Petricic reported on this topic and included inaccurate comments in their reports. The outcome skewed the public’s perception of the complex situation in the Middle East and jettisoned journalistic ethics of accuracy, fairness and balance.
For its part, CBC News has repeatedly asserted that hundreds of thousands of Arabs were uprooted by Israel in 1948. This statement is historical revisionism at its worst and spreads the false narrative that Palestinians were “dispossessed” by Israel in 1948 to make way for the new Jewish state.
While a large number of Arabs did leave and were displaced, they primarily did so at the behest of Arab leaders.
Israel accepted the League of Nations’ 1947 Partition Plan that would have created a new Arab-Muslim state alongside Israel. However, the Arab world rejected the proposal, and following Israel’s declaration of independence, it was invaded by neighbouring Arab countries. As noted by historian Benny Morris, local Arabs were encouraged to flee by Arab leaders so they would not be collateral damage in the Arab world’s planned destruction of Israel.
In his January 26 report by Chris Brown, the journalist wrote that “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were uprooted from their homes when Israel was created in 1948.” The term “uprooted” erased the true nature of their experiences and falsely stated that they were forced to do so by an outside party, namely Israel. Similarly, an analysis report also published on January 26, saw Chris Brown state: “Before, during and after Israel’s founding in 1948, more than 700,000 people either fled or were driven from their homes inwhat Arabs call the Nakba, or catastrophe.”
Click below to watch the full segment:
Brown later touched on the same theme in a report for CBC World Report that day, saying that “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were uprooted from their homes when Israel was created in 1948.”
The same day, Petricic, in a CBC World Report segment, said that “many Palestinians, and other Arabs in the region, remember what happened 75 years ago when some 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from here in order for Israel to be set up.”
Once again, they were not displaced “in order for Israel to be set up,” a critical point misrepresented by Petricic.
The second category of incorrect statements was about the depiction of the four Israeli female soldiers released in the hostage/prisoner exchange. Petricic made untrue statements about their release – twice.
On January 25, CBC Anchor Natasha Fatah and Saša Petricic discussed the hostage/prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.
Click below to watch the full segment:
In the discussion, Petricic stated the following: “We saw the four female hostages who were released, they were in uniform, they are soldiers as you mention. These four waved and smiled which is something that we haven’t seen before…”
The same day, Petricic reported on CBC Radio’s World Report that there was: “a signing ceremony with the Red Cross handing over the four female soldiers who were being released today. They are all 20 or 19-years-old. They came on stage in their military uniforms, smiling and waving…”
The soldiers were all in fake uniforms that Hamas made them wear. With regard to their waves and smiles, they were all clearly under duress as they were surrounded by dozens of armed terrorists and likely did not know if they were truly being released, or were set for execution perhaps by a firing squad or a return to forced confinement. These were not the expressions of joy that CBC News seemingly depicted.
In sharp contrast, on January 25, CTV National News reported that Hamas dressed up Israel’s hostages by reporting: “Hamas had them march on stage in costume uniforms…” While the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that they were “dressed in improvised Hamas uniforms…”
While at first glance minor, these misrepresentations around events in 1948 and the release of a number of Israeli hostages held by Hamas make a subtle pivot to a narrative that is not only hostile to Israel, but fundamentally misleading. Accordingly, HonestReporting Canada filed an official complaint with CBC calling for corrective action. Stay tuned to this page for future updates.
