Montreal Metro Demonizes Israel's Independence Day

Dear HonestReporting Canada Subscriber,

A disturbing trend seems to be emerging with the Montreal media when Israel celebrates its Independence Day every year. Namely, that Israel and/or its supporters are demonized in news coverage surrounding the day's festivities.

In 2002, as tens of thousands of pro-Israel supporters marched in the streets of Montreal on Independence Day, Le Devoir focused on a handful of anti-Israel demonstrators giving them prominent coverage on its front page. Last year, the Montreal Gazette's coverage of a rally marking Israel @ 60 was criticized by many HonestReporting Canada subscribers for being too "negative," for impugning Jewish patriotism, and for focusing on an isolated incident, out of context, where a youth picked up the fleur-de-lis and discarded it, saying "I don't want this one" in exchange for the Israeli flag. As letters poured into the Gazette, the newspaper reflected on its coverage and subsequently acknowledged that their story "Missed the Mark" and had stumbled at both the reporting and editorial levels. We are happy to say that the Gazette's coverage of this years festivities faired much better.

The Metro's photograph and caption are deceptive not only for what is shown, but also for what is not indicated. The original AP photograph clearly states in its caption that the Palestinian woman "walks next to a poster… during an event organized by Hamas culture ministry… to commemorate Nakba day," but instead, Metro's version doesn't inform its readers that the woman wasn't part of the poster in the first place. Likewise, readers have no way of knowing who (Hamas – a terrorist organization) created the dubious poster image in the background. Without a properly contextualized caption, Metro seems to almost be promoting this Hamas propaganda piece.