It’s been said that bias by omission is perhaps the most egregious form of bias.

With this in mind, we were alarmed to hear and see several reports produced by CBC News about the killing of a Palestinian man, which failed to mention that the Israel Defense Forces allege that the individual committed a car ramming terror attack.

On January 30, CBC Radio broadcast reports at 8:05am and 9:04am that said the following:

“Palestinian officials say Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man today. They say the 26-year-old was shot in his car at a checkpoint in the occupied west bank. The death comes just hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Israel. Blinken is in Cairo now, he was asked about the violence this past week which caused more than a dozen deaths in Jerusalem and the west bank.” (8:05am)

“Palestinian officials say Israeli troops shot and killed a 26-year-old Palestinian today at a checkpoint in the occupied west bank. This latest death is one of more than a dozen in recent weeks, comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to arrive in Israel for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas…” (9:04am)

On CBC The National, also on January 30, Anchor Adrienne Arsenault reported the following: “But that call comes after some of the deadliest violence between Israelis and Palestinians in years. A funeral was held today for a Palestinian man shot by Israeli police at a checkpoint….” 

Untold to CBC radio listeners and television viewers, Israel claims that the Palestinian man intentionally drove his car into an Israeli soldier in an alleged car ramming terror attack, and then crashed it after shots were fired and attempted to drive off.

The Guardian newspaper, well known for its anti-Israel coverage, acknowledged this vital context by reporting the following: “Nassim Nayef Salman Abu Fouda, 26, was shot in the head at a checkpoint in the restive city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday. The Israeli army said Abu Fouda had driven his car into a soldier, and crashed it after shots were fired and he attempted to drive off.”

CBC on the other hand, did not feature this important context and CBC viewers & listeners were misled into believing that Israel killed a presumably innocent Palestinian man, whereas Israel strenuously disputes this by saying the Palestinian committed a terror attack by intentionally ramming his car into an Israeli soldier.

CBC failed to include this necessary context on a controversial incident that is fundamentally in dispute. CBC’s audience only heard the Palestinian narrative and version of events, and were deprived of the Israeli point of view.

HonestReporting Canada has filed a complaint directly with CBC News and we encourage you to also take action. Put simply, CBC viewers and listeners were misled into thinking that Israeli forces killed a presumably innocent Palestinian civilian, whereas the IDF says the Palestinian man was a terrorist who attempted to use his car to murder Israelis. Please tell CBC that it’s imperative that CBC reporting feature the aforementioned context in the interests of procuring fairness and balance and to be congruent with CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices.