Even when CBC News belatedly reported that Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a stridently anti-Israel activist organization, announced that it would be suspending its activities in Gaza’s largest hospitals because of the presence of Palestinian terrorists, the taxpayer-funded broadcaster still found a way to make it about Israel.

The MSF statement, which admitted the presence of “armed men, some masked,” as well as the “movement of weapons” inside Nasser Hospital was a powerful corroboration of Israel’s longtime accusations about Hamas use of civilian infrastructure in Gaza, particularly from a ‘humanitarian’ organization that had long shown a bizarre fixation on attacking Israel.

The importance of that admission cannot be overstated, as it provides important acknowledgement – from a so-called “humanitarian” group that has long been hostile to Israel, no less – that Jerusalem’s accusations about the presence of Palestinian terrorists in Gaza’s largest hospital were right all along.

On February 20, CBC News’ Yasmine Hassan – whose reporting has been the subject of multiple HonestReporting Canada alerts for her selectively biased coverage – reported on MSF’s withdrawal. However, how the broadcaster decided to frame the story spoke volumes about CBC News’ editorial agenda in demonizing Israel.

The original headline, up for just a few hours, was “Doctors Without Borders pulling out of key Gaza hospital after sighting gunmen,” which made the focus of the story what it truly was: how MSF was suspending services at a Gaza hospital because of Palestinian terrorists and weapons inside.

The original headline:

But shortly after being published, CBC News decided to alter the headline, fundamentally changing the nature of the story and using it to target Israel. The revised headline read “Gaza doctor says MSF decision to pull out of key hospital leaves staff vulnerable to IDF attack.”

The altered headline:

Rather than focusing on why Palestinian terrorists have been using Gaza’s largest medical complex to further their terrorism – which Israel has long stated, and to which news media outlets have long scoffed – CBC News’ editors decided to frame the story about Israel, and casting suspicions squarely at Jerusalem.

In the article, Hassan quotes Muhammad Saqr, a physician at the hospital, as saying that “this is really shocking and gives the Israeli army the excuse to attack our medical staff inside the hospital.”

This remarkable statement appears to suggest that noticing and calling out the presence of Palestinian terrorists in a hospital is somehow more dangerous than the actual presence of these terrorists.

The article notes that the Gaza physician had been interviewed by “CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife,” an individual who, despite having repeatedly posted stridently anti-Israel content on social media, remains working for Canada’s taxpayer-funded broadcaster, where he helps to shape the views of millions of Canadians about the Middle East.

CBC News’ February 20 article by Yasmine Hassan and videographer Mohamed El Saife demonstrated that even on the incredibly rare occasion when the public broadcaster told a story that supports Israel’s longtime statements, they would still find a way to cynically twist the message completely.