On the evening of January 19, CBC Radio reported on the eviction of the Salihiyas, a Palestinian family from Sheikh Jarrah (Shimon Hatzadik in Hebrew) in east Jerusalem, but instead of providing adequate context about this controversial issue, CBC gave a platform to unfounded claims that Israel was trying to expropriate the land to give to Jewish residents.
Listen to the CBC report here:
CBC claimed that Palestinians had been evicted “from their home in occupied east Jerusalem“. Firstly, Israel extended sovereignty to the eastern portion of Jerusalem in 1967 following the Six Day War that reunified Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal and undivided capital. Israel does not “occupy” east Jerusalem and the Palestinians have never had sovereignty over the area. Secondly, while CBC said that they had been evicted “from their home,” the Salihiyas have been unable to provide proof of title to the land in question.
While CBC acknowledged Israeli claims that the home was illegally built and that Israel planned to use the area to build schools, CBC quoted Dana Mills, an anti-Israel protestor, who claimed that “this was an attempt to make east Jerusalem more and more populated by Jewish people and we will not stand for this. We stand for preservation of east Jerusalem as a capital of a future Palestinian state.” This claim in and of its own right has no validity. In fact, the Jerusalem Municipality said: “The claims that the area will be expropriated for the purpose of transferring it to Jewish residents are false and unfounded.”
Mills’ claim exemplifies how in the mind of many anti-Israel detractors, a future Palestinian state must be Judenrein, free of Jews.
Untold by CBC, the Jerusalem Municipality is promoting an important and historic plan to establish an educational complex tailored to Arab children with special needs in east Jerusalem. As part of the plan, 18 classrooms will be built, along with 6 kindergartens, sports fields and leisure facilities.
This is a case of a local property dispute where the occupants, the Salihiya family, were lawfully evicted by Israeli Police as they illegally built a residence and commercial business on the land in question. The Israeli Police were enforcing a 2017 Jerusalem District Court decision to evacuate the area in question which had been designated as a statutory area for public needs.
It’s been reported that the Salihiya family refused compromises and alternative arrangements, preferring to continue to illegally occupy the land in question.
Like all democracies, Israel respects the rule of law. Accordingly, when land is designated as public property and is illegally occupied by individuals who built illegal homes and private businesses, eviction orders are enforced for the good of the public.
Anti-Israel groups and terror organizations like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) sought to instigate conflict and inflame tensions and the media, like the CBC, were complicit in spreading their misinformation.
Take action now: Send a complaint to CBC Editor-in-Chief Brodie Fenlon and refer to CBC Radio’s January 19 report about Israel’s eviction of the Salihiya family in Sheikh Jarrah (Shimon Hatzadik). Send emails to: Brodie.Fenlon@CBC.ca.
