In yet more evidence of Canada’s publicly-funded broadcaster seeking comment about the Middle East near-exclusively from anti-Israel commentators, in recent days, at least three separate CBC radio programs featured an interview with Rex Brynen, a McGill University professor who gave his full-throated endorsement to the Carney government’s statement that it would unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.

On June 25, Brynen was interviewed on the All in a Day program, where he spoke with Alan Neal, a host who has frequently offered a sympathetic platform to anti-Israel activists, but who has rarely – if ever – given such an opportunity to pro-Israel voices.

Listen to the full segment below:

Brynen called Gaza an “engineered humanitarian catastrophe” and claimed that “one in three Palestinians hadn’t eaten in recent days.” Unsurprisingly, he failed to mention that the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was providing some two million meals every day into Gaza, making such claims highly spurious. Neal also opted not to challenge his guest.

Beyond failing to note this critical detail, Brynen then falsely claimed that Israel was “obstructive (of) the work” of humanitarian aid groups, a total inversion of reality, where in reality, these so-called “humanitarian” groups have actively boycotted the GHF, refusing to work with it, and in so doing, have created a massive backlog of humanitarian aid waiting to be delivered into Gaza by the very same groups demonizing Israeli aid efforts.

At no time did Neal push back on Brynen’s misinformation, nor did he offer any context for listeners.

The same day, Brynen was interviewed on The 306, a CBC radio program based in Saskatchewan. In that show, host Peter Mills – whose fawning treatment of anti-Israel guests has been documented by HonestReporting Canada – allowed his guest to make outlandish claims, including that “Israel’s war strategy involves deliberate hunger in Gaza.”

Listen to the full segment below:

It would have taken minimal effort on Mills’ part to challenge his guest and point out the enormous amount of food entering Gaza each and every day. Instead, he made no such efforts, rather using his voice, not to hold Brynen accountable, but to join him in characterizing Israel as the enemy, asking “how is that (Israel’s actions) allowed to happen, and would diplomatic pressure from countries like Canada make a difference” in stopping Israel?

As is common with many CBC hosts and reporters, Mills made no effort to draw a distinction between his role as a journalist and being a vocal spokesperson for the anti-Israel cause.

On July 31, Brynen was interviewed on the Calgary Eyeopener program with Loren McGinnis and Angela Knight. Speaking about the Carney government’s proposed recognition of a Palestinian state, Brynen dismissed criticisms of the act – including that it was a reward for Hamas terrorism – because “we’re not endorsing the Hamas position,” namely the destruction of Israel.

Listen to the full segment below:

But with this, Brynen demonstrated his remarkable misreading of the situation. There is a reason that a senior Hamas official called such recognitions a “victory,” namely because they bring more credibility and more success to the goal of isolating Israel and legitimizing Palestinian attacks on the Jewish State. Hamas has repeatedly thanked Canada for its actions on the international stage, not for endorsing Hamas, but for acts aimed at weakening Israel.

That Brynen, a supposed expert, would not understand this, is bewildering. But he did more than offer his half-baked theories; he also engaged in outright falsehoods, claiming that Israel was working to ensure that Gazans “won’t be able to leave.”

It seems that Brynen changed his mind six days earlier, when he told Neal that Israel was seeking to “remove” Gazans from the territory. Either way, he is spreading overt disinformation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said “if people want to stay, they can stay. But if they want to leave they should be able to leave. It shouldn’t be a prison. It should be an open place and give people free choice.”

While the hosts did ask more pressing questions than in the other two programs, this – arguably the most scandalous of claims from Brynen – were not addressed.

Yet again, a vocal anti-Israel guest was given a voice on CBC to offer supposed expertise, and yet again, any opposing views were shut out entirely.