On the evening of December 9, nearly 100 attendees participated in a Havdalah ceremony, marking the end of the Jewish Sabbath, in the downtown Toronto neighbourhood of Yorkville. This event was particularly meaningful as it was also a candlelight vigil aiming to bring awareness to the remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
Following the event, CityNews broadcast a brief recap of the program.
Subsequently, Breakfast Television (BT) also aired footage of the event on the morning of December 14, but with a major caveat: it was used as a promotion for an upcoming “Chanukkah for Ceasefire” event, hosted by an organization harshly critical of Israel and which accuses the Jewish State of practicing “apartheid.”
The footage of the havdalah ceremony was shown above text on the screen reading ‘Chanukah for Ceasefire protest happening today,’ appearing to falsely suggest that the pro-Israel vigil’s event was somehow related to the pro-Palestinian ceasefire advocacy event.
While the footage was being shown, the reporter told viewers that “Here at home, the Jewish community in Toronto will gather today for a Hanukkah for ceasefire protest. The candle lighting aims to bring light in this time of horror and tragedy, honour the lives of the Palestinians and the Israelis who have been killed, and call for a lasting ceasefire, a hostage exchange and a long-term political solution. This will happen at 5:30 this evening at Trinity Bellwoods Park.”
In addition to the obvious misrepresentation of an event commemorating Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas as an entirely different program hosted by an anti-Israel organization, the reporter’s use of the phrase “hostage exchange” is extremely problematic.
On October 7, during their massacre in southern Israel which killed an estimated 1,200 people, Hamas kidnapped hundreds of innocent hostages, including both Israelis and foreign workers, dragging them into the Gaza Strip. The hostages, young and old, men and women, had committed no crimes and yet were kidnapped for no reason other than that they were Israeli or in Israel.
In late November, Hamas, the Gaza-based Islamic terrorist organization, carried out an exchange with Israel where they released more than 100 hostages taken during their October 7 attack, and Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners serving time inside Israeli jails.
However, the Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails were not, as Breakfast Television said, hostages, nor anything close to it. The prisoners, whether convicted or held in administrative detention, are imprisoned due to violent actions they had taken or were otherwise attempting to take.
One such prisoner, or “hostage” as Breakfast Television termed her, is Nafoz Hamad, a Palestinian teenager who was arrested and imprisoned in Israel for an attempted murder stabbing attack against a Jewish neighbour two years ago.
Another Palestinian detainee who was released by Israel recently in the hostage-prisoner exchange, is Israa Jaabis, a Palestinian woman whose burned face made her recognizable after attempting to carry out a suicide bomb attack in Israel. The bomb in her car exploded prematurely, scarring her face, but ultimately saving the lives of her intended victims.
Moreover, nowhere on the program flyer by IfNotNow did the organization mention the term “hostages” or “hostage exchange,” as stated by Breakfast Television.
The errors in repurposing footage of a pro-Israel event by Breakfast Television being used to promote a pro-Palestinian program advocating for a ceasefire, misled viewers into thinking that those at the pro-Israel hostage vigil were in support of a ceasefire, when in fact, they were not. Furthermore, Breakfast Television’s use of false language by its reporter, may appear to be minor in nature, but it in fact represents sloppy reporting and ultimately a failure to uphold serious journalistic standards expected by the public at large.
HonestReporting Canada has filed a complaint with Breakfast Television and we encourage you to do the same. Send feedback by clicking here.
