More than 150 “journalists” across Canada have signed onto a recent open letter, entitled: “Journalists in Canada condemn Israel’s continued killing of journalists in Gaza,” decrying what they describe as the “violence enacted upon journalists (and civilians) in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli government.”
That journalists have been killed in Gaza covering the war between Hamas and Israel is not in dispute; what is in dispute is the contention that Israel is purposely targeting them, an accusation that Israel strenuously denies. Israel has gone on record saying that “The IDF has never and will never deliberately target journalists… The IDF has confirmed that certain ‘journalists’ who were reportedly killed were active terror operatives and were directly participating in hostilities.”
The open letter also said that: “This conflict did not begin on October 7…,” eerily reminiscent of a comment made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who was accused of justifying Hamas terrorism.
Signatories to this open letter include:
- Fatima Raza, Staff Reporter, Toronto Star
- Abhiraj Lamba, Staff Reporter, Toronto Star
- Shireen Ahmed, Contributor, CBC News Senior
- Kyle Muzyka, Journalist, CBC News
- Shannon Carranco, Journalist & Editor, CTV News
- Ayesha Habib, Freelancer, Globe and Mail
- Raneem Alozzi, Digital News Producer, Reuters
- Josie Kao, Journalist, Reuters
- Clair Porter Robbins, Freelancer, CBC News & Globe and Mail
- Jonah Brunet, Copy Editor, Toronto Life
- Srivindhya Kolluru, Freelance Contributing Columnist, Toronto Star
- Evy Kwong, Manger, Vice News
- Mashal Butt, Editorial Fellow, The Walrus
- Ziya Jones, Senior Editor, Xtra Magazine
- Taylor Noakes, Freelancer, Toronto Star and CBC News
- Malak Abas, Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press
- Mona Awwad, Arabic News Reporter, Omni Television
- V.S. Wells, Associate Editor, Georgia Straight
- Anne Lagacé Dowson, former CBC Radio host
- Rachel Gilmore, former Global News journalist
- Shenaz Kermali, Contract Lecturer, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Sonya Fatah, Associate Chair, Assistant Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Ginella Massa, a former host of “Canada Tonight” on CBC News, who is currently a lecturer in journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).
- Adrian Harewood, former radio and TV host, CBC News, who is currently an Associate Professor at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication
The open letter asserted that Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack has “killed more than 14,800 Palestinians” and ignores how the Israel Defense Forces claim that at least 5,000 of them are Hamas terrorists.
For a group of journalists, this letter demonstrates a significant lack of transparency and research. The casualty count listed in the open letter does not specify its source, but all casualty figures from the Gaza Strip rely on a single authority: Hamas, via its so-called “Gaza Ministry of Health.”
Hamas is not only an extremist Islamic terrorist organization; it is also a skilled disseminator of propaganda. The group loudly broadcasts casualty figures from Gaza, all while drawing no distinction between civilians and Hamas terrorists, nor between those killed in Israeli air strikes and those killed by errant Palestinian rockets, as seen on October 17, when a Gazan rocket prematurely fell on the Al-Ahli Arab hospital.
During their October 7 massacre in Israel, Hamas terrorists actively recorded their rampage, yet senior Hamas leaders have since lied to the world, falsely claiming that they never sought to kill any innocent Israeli civilians, when there is extensive video proof to the contrary.
Do all the journalists on this open letter always accept such unverified claims from untrustworthy sources, as they have done here? Ironically, the letter ends by calling for journalists to “verify all published claims,” but apparently the signatories do not hold themselves to this same standard that they demand of others.
This open letter does more than demonstrate a gullible acceptance of Hamas propaganda, passing it off as if it were authoritative; it makes no compunction about its overtly pro-Palestinian bias, a troubling admission from journalists. The letter unabashedly endorses calls for journalists to “Be mindful of the power imbalance between Israel and Palestine” and to “Include and respect Palestinian perspectives”. The letter most certainly does not call for an inclusion and respect of Israeli perspectives.
The open letter continues by approvingly citing a 2021 open letter from journalists, which called for more pro-Palestinian content in the news media and which excoriated the news media for its “deep reluctance to cover the ongoing nature of the Israeli occupation.” The current open letter also alleges that “CBC journalists have previously reported an internal reluctance to broadcast Palestinian experts and perspectives.”
In reality, much of the Canadian news media, including the taxpayer-subsidized CBC, has extensively and repeatedly covered Palestinian voices who are hostile to Israel – again and again, all while continuing to avoid using the word “terrorist” to label Hamas.
The letter bemoans how “journalists at some Canadian news outlets, including Global News and CTV Atlantic, allege they have been dismissed for expressing solidarity with Palestine.”
The CTV Atlantic journalist in question, Yara Jamal, did more than express “solidarity with Palestine;” she helped organize an anti-Israel protest in Halifax and told reporters that Israel “cannot exist.”
The Global News reporter, Zahraa al-Akhrass, has stated on social media that her employment with the broadcaster was terminated for “speaking up about Palestine.” That is a dramatic understatement. In truth, her content on X (formerly Twitter) was far worse, including a post euphemistically referring to “the Palestinian resistance of Israeli occupation,” and another that said “Zionism is Nazism.”
Unsurprisingly, for an open letter showing an enormous lack of journalistic integrity, it comes to the defence of these two disgraced journalists who similarly displayed such a failure of ethics.
At its core, a fundamental principle of honest and ethical journalism is to be objective and to be politically neutral. The individuals who signed this anti-Israel letter have demonstrated that they are more interested in engaging in advocacy journalism and in actively taking sides, Palestinian over Israeli, rather than being neutral observers. If these journalists and news organizations were maliciously added to this letter without their consent, they must publicly disavow this letter immediately.
HonestReporting Canada is seeking clarification from the heads of these Canadian news organizations about their journalist’s aligning themselves, and implicitly these news organizations, with this anti–Israel advocacy effort.
Any Canadian journalist who signed this letter should never be allowed to report on the Arab–Israeli conflict again in light of their clear anti–Israel bias which is on full display. Will disciplinary action be undertaken by these news outlets? Stay tuned to this page for any future updates.
Full signatories as of this writing include:
1. Shireen Ahmed
2. Ginella Massa
3. Michelle Cyca
4. Inori Roy
5. Dustin Godfrey
6. Rebecca Gao
7. Ramona Leitao
8. Pacinthe Mattar
9. Kunal Chaudhary
10. Tahmeed Shafiq
11. Nour Abi-Nakhoul
12. Lucy Uprichard
13. Xavier Richer Vis
14. Sonya Fatah
15. Sakeina Syed
16. Tajja Isen
17. Katia Lo Innes
18. Anonymous – Toronto Star
19. Jalani Morgan
20. Asmaa Malik
21. Dru Oja Jay
22. Emma Arkell
23. Emma Paling
24. Kate Schneider
25. Lindsay Sample – The Narwhal
26. Niko Stratis
28. Claire Porter Robbins
29. Desmond Cole
30. El Jones
31. Julia-Simone Rutgers
32. Brandi Schier – CEO, Discourse Community Publishing
33. Rachel Chen
34. Carly Penrose
35. Karan Saxena – The Narwhal
36. Furqan Mohamed
37. Shenaz Kermalli
38. Andre Goulet – Director, Harbinger Media
39. Tracy Glynn – NB Media Co-op
40. Susan O’Donnell
41. Justin Brake – The Independent
42. Nathan Kalman-Lamb
43. Derek Silva
44. David Kattenburg
45. Shannon Carranco
46. Jenn Jefferys
47. Megan Linton – Invisible Institutions
48. Arun Srinivasan
49. Kathleen Newman-Bremang
50. Paris Marx
51. Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé – Freelance columnist
52. Nahid Widaatalla
53. Sarah Samuel – Freelance Journalist and Reseracher
54. Aysha Khan – Next City
55. Stacy Lee Kong
56. Sarah Rieger
57. Huda Hassan
58. Anam Latif
59. Anonymous – CBC/Radio-Canada
60. Anonymous – The Globe and Mail
61. Diane Yeung
62. Nur Dogan
63. Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
64. Michael Rancic
65. Rachel Gilmore
66. Hannah Seo
67. Audra Jander
68. Jeremy Appel
69. Christin El-kholy
70. Tobin Ng
71. Nora Loreto
72. Dani Godbout
73. Anonymous – Toronto Star
74. Tim Bousquet – Halifax Examiner
75. Silas Le Blanc
76. Sobia Moman
77. Tannara Yelland
78. Mira Miller
79. Anne Lagacé Dowson
80. Matt Simmons – The Narwhal
81. Stephen Magusiak
82. Omar Mouallem
83. Fatima Raza
84. Francesca Fionda – The Narwhal
85. Marta Iwanek
86. Emily Leedham
87. Marcello Di Cintio
88. Fatima Syed
89. Rosie Long Decter
90. Nicholas Hune-Brown
91. Shawn Parkinson
92. Alayna LaFleur
93. Henry Lee – Deathnography Podcast
94. Dalya Al Masri
95. Elaine Anselmi
96. Anonymous – CBC/Radio-Canada
97. Kiran N
98. Roslyn Talusan – Off Colour, Independent
99. Jessica Mazze
100. Jonah Brunet
101. Srivindhya Kolluru
102. Romy Garrido
103. Hafsa Maqsood
104. Nana aba Duncan
105. Sara Black McCulloch
106. Sophia de Guzman Rivadeiro
107. Lorax B. Horne – DDoSecrets
108. Allison Baker
109. Joan Baxter
110. Sabra Ismath
111. Alex Birrell
112. Mashal Butt
113. Duncan Kinney – Editor of Progress Report
114. Anonymous – CBC/Radio-Canada
115. Ayesha Habib
116. Kayla Zhu
117. Anonymous – CBC/Radio-Canada
118. David Gray-Donald
119. Grace Scott
120. Meral Jamal
121. Daniel Sarah Karasik
122. Raneem Alozzi
123. Ziya Jones
124. Gillian Findlay
125. Kyle Muzyka – CBC Radio/Canada
126. Sana A. Malik
127. Karen Pinchin
128. Anonymous – Toronto Star
129. Luke Ottenhof
130. Josie Kao
131. Joy Pecknold
132. Peter Biesterfeld
133. Mona Awwad
134. Kathryn Jezer-Morton
135. Leslie Sinclair
136. Noor Azrieh
137. Heidi Lee
138. Evy Kwong
139. Stephanie Wood – The Narwhal
140. Brannavy Jeyasundaram
141. Zeahaa Rehman
142. Amanda Follett Hosgood
143. Martin Reis
144. Daysha Loppie
145. Ashleigh-Rae Thomas
146. Yvette d’Entremont – Halifax Examiner
147. Jeevan Sangha
148. Natasha Bulowski
149. Brennan Doherty
150. Adrian Harewood
151. Sophie Jin – Briarpatch Magazine
152. V. S. Wells
153. Abhiraj Lamba
154. Jordan Prentice, Energeticcity.ca
155. Dana Masa
156. Ysh Cabana
157. Alexa Margorian
158. Malak Abas
159. Taylor C. Noakes
