As the year 2024 came to a close, one of CBC News’ most consistently problematic reporters produced two articles on the Hamas-Israel war which demonstrated the same practice of emphasizing anti-Israel voices and narratives, while dramatically minimizing any opposing views.

Both articles were written by Senior Writer Sara Jabakhanji, who in 2021 signed an infamous open letter calling for more anti-Israel content in the news media and who yet who continues to report on Israel, all on the taxpayer’s dime

Her lengthy December 5 article entitled: “Amnesty report concludes Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza constitute genocide,” reported on Amnesty International’s recent accusations of genocide against Israel, writing that the war in “Gaza that has killed more than 44,000 people and displaced most of the enclave’s population,” blurring the line between Hamas’ highly suspect death toll propaganda, and instead framing it as fact.

The overwhelming bulk of Jabakhanji’s article quoted Amnesty International and its secretary general, Agnès Callamard, with only a small handful of refutations by Israeli officials dwarfed by the accusations against it. Jabakhanji’s article likewise offered no context about Amnesty International’s longtime history of anti-Israel animus, details which are hardly irrelevant to the story.

Jabakhanji’s story also highlighted the selectivity of CBC News coverage. Just days after her article, a respected UK think tank produced a detailed investigation into Hamas’ death toll claims, finding major fraud, but even weeks later, the publicly-funded broadcaster made no mention of the report.

The same day, CBC News published another article by Jabakhanji entitled: “‘Charred body pieces everywhere’ after Israeli strike sets tents ablaze in Gaza safe zone,” which reported that 20 Gazans were killed by an Israeli strike, writing that “Palestinians were digging through burnt debris searching for bodies Thursday after some 20 people were killed a day earlier in an Israeli strike that set ablaze tents sheltering displaced families in a designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.”

Such dramatic language was not attributed to anyone, let alone Hamas officials, but instead was presented once again as fact, a deeply problematic practice given Hamas’ disinformation campaigns making virtually every declaration from inside Gaza highly suspect.

In the entire article, almost nothing was reported to readers about the nature of the strike beyond two minor sentences, one which read that “Israel said the strike targeted senior Hamas operatives, whom it did not identify,” and the other statement, “The Israeli army says militants frequently use residential buildings, schools and hospitals for operational cover.”

This is woefully insufficient. A news article meant to be taken seriously cannot spend paragraph after paragraph repeating statements from Gazans accusing Israel of murderous violence – including a reference to Amnesty International’s genocide report (which links to Jabakhanji’s aforementioned article on the subject) and then two brief paraphrasing of Israeli officials.

While both of Sara Jabakhanji’s December 5 articles at first glance appear to be unproblematic, as they give a voice, albeing token, to Israel, that is nowhere near what a reputable news media outlet must be providing to the public. Not only do both articles spend the overwhelming majority of time quoting voices opposed to Israel, with no semblance of balance, they continue the trend of Jabakhanji where she consistently focuses on accusations and allegations against Israel and only Israel.