On March 11, the Concordian Newspaper featured an article by Aysha White on how a panel discussion organized by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) was interrupted by pro-Israel protesters.
The article which was about an event for “Israel Apartheid Week” (IAW), was marred on many accounts.
Firstly, the article described IAW as “a week aimed at creating international awareness of the settler-colonial relationship between Israel and Palestine, and the Palestinian apartheid. SPHR advocates for an end to Palestine’s colonization and aims to promote awareness of Palestinian culture and identity.” Nowhere did the article mention that the event is a hate-fest directed only at Israel, nor did it acknowledge Jewish legal, religious, and historical rights to the land of Israel, and Arab minority rights in the Jewish state. There’s no foundation to the “apartheid” slur featured in the article (please read “10 reasons Israel is not an ‘apartheid’ state” by HRC’s Jake Beaumont in the Huffington Post)
Secondly, nowhere did the article mention that pro-Israel groups like Israel on Campus Concordia have condemned the interruption saying that freedom of expression should be respected.
Thirdly, Nahla Abdo, a professor in the department of sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa, accused Israel of “racism,” “ethnic cleansing”, and “genocide” without Concordian reporter Aysha White including a rebuttal to these outrageous accusations.
Fourth, reporter White also falsely claimed that Area C is in the Gaza Strip, whereas it’s actually in the west bank. She wrote: “Shaer presented the subject of her doctoral thesis, which focused on the ethnic cleansing and quiet resistance of Palestinians in Area C—a section of the Gaza Strip. Area C is a highly-contested piece of land that both the Israelis and Palestinians claim ownership of.” Importantly, Palestinians aren’t committing quiet resistance (a euphemism for terror). Many are committing stabbings, shootings and bombings or are engaging in violent riots. Just today in fact, Israeli police say troops shot and killed a Palestinian assailant who stabbed two policemen in the Old City in Jerusalem.
Fifth, the article describes “human right abuses towards Palestinians,” but doesn’t mention that these are mere allegations, not proven facts.
Sixth, the article claims Israel bulldozes Palestinians homes, but doesn’t mention that Israel contends that many of these homes were built without a permit, while others were destroyed as a punitive measure to thwarting terror attacks. Though construction permits may be difficult to obtain in Area C, even B’Tselem acknowledges that at least 30% of Area C land allows for construction permits. This runs contrary to a claim made by Nuha Dwaikat Shaer, a PhD candidate at McGill’s School of Social Work.
Take Action Now: Please file a complaint with Concordian Editor-in-Chief Cristina Sanza pointing out their errors and anti-israeli bias. Send emails to: editor@theconcordian.com.
