Any reporting on the anniversary of the Palestinian terrorist invasion of Israel and the atrocities its terrorists committed on October 7, 2023, ought to include mention of their raison d’être: an ongoing existential threat to Israel. But in a trio of recent reports, CBC News failed to include this critical background. Despite producing three reports, Senior Correspondent Saša Petricic focused on Gazan suffering while ignoring the threat Palestinian terrorists pose to Israel, effectively blaming Israel instead.

Petricic has a long history of problematic reporting which has been documented by HonestReporting Canada. For example in September, he claimed there were “food shortages” in Gaza, without evidence. These three broadcasts continued his theme.

The October 7 broadcast, “Israel marks 3 years since Oct. 7 attacks as Palestinians mourn Gaza’s destruction,” introduced Petricic’s segment by saying that “the war in Gaza triggered by the Hamas attacks of 3 years ago.”

Click below to watch the full report:

The war in Gaza was not triggered only by the Hamas attacks, but by the genocidal threat the terror group demonstrated to Israel, necessitating a defensive response. While Petricic noted that “Hamas militants have not disarmed as they promised to do, leaving Gazans in limbo,” he failed to clarify the direct threat this poses to Israeli lives and Hamas’ declared goal of repeating its October 7 atrocities until Israel is destroyed.

Petricic was introduced as reporting from Toronto. His footage was unsourced, and part of it was reminiscent of allegedly staged scenes of Gazans reaching for food. The terror organization Hamas controls the messaging coming out of Gaza, as former Gazan photographer Motaz Azaiza described in a recent podcast. Yet Petricic did not mention this vital context.

Petricic claimed that the “UN’s World Food Program still calls daily life here brutal.” The World Food Program has been charged with supporting Hamas. Petricic also featured Gazans, including Mohammad al-Arabid saying that “we have been squatting here for 3 years now.” He did not describe the conflict’s impact on Israelis, for example reservists leaving families for extended periods of time, or a nation living under constant threat.

CBC Anchor David Common also said that “Gaza’s health ministry says more than 74,000 Palestinians have died and two million others continue to face a critical humanitarian situation including widespread hunger, mass displacement, and severe destruction,” and Petricic mentioned that “Israeli airstrikes continue almost daily, violating the ceasefire agreement and killing more than 1,400 Palestinians since it went into effect, according to Gaza officials.”

All of this data was presumably sourced from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, whose reports throughout the war have been repeatedly discredited for unreliable data collection methods and inaccurate reporting. Sharing it as fact is unconscionable. Furthermore, as Hamas is Gaza’s governing body, its total responsibility for Gazan well-being was conveniently ignored by CBC.

Also on October 7, another broadcast, “Life in Gaza remains dire 3 years after Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks,” included Petricic’s unsourced video footage, and featured an on-air interview of Petricic who said that “Israel’s put restrictions on what it considers dual-use products and these are things that it considers could be used for the military…includes things like heavy machinery, which could be used to get rid of some of the unexploded ordinances, could be used to fix some of these teetering buildings, but can’t make it in…Some medicines are not being allowed in either… some tents.”

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Prior to October 7, 2023, Hamas stole much of the aid entering Gaza and repurposed it or used it directly to create a tunnel network larger than the London Underground to house its terror activities and later abuse Israeli hostages. Israel’s fears regarding dual-use items are fully grounded in reality and can be directly laid at Hamas’s door.

Entirely unmentioned was any acknowledgement of the enormous amount of aid coming into Gaza in a single day, such as engine oil, incubators and other medical equipment. Hundreds of trucks bearing aid enter Gaza daily.

This detailed documentation highlights Israeli efforts to facilitate humanitarian assistance. Yet during the war, Hamas stole aid and hoarded baby formula to falsely accuse Israel of starvation tactics while its own civilians suffered. Where was Petricic’s finger-pointing at Hamas, the true initiators of the war and perpetrators of Gazan and Israeli suffering?

CBC again managed to showcase Petricic’s video footage and accompanying narration, this time on The National on October 8, entitled “Life is brutal inside Gaza, one year into the ceasefire,” which offered more outlandish claims and little relevant context so viewers could understand the nature of the allegations being presented to them.

Click below to watch the full report:

By framing the conflict through anti-Israel claims while ignoring the active genocidal threat posed by Palestinian terrorists, Petricic omitted enormously important details. Instead of holding a governing terror network accountable for exploiting its own populace and terrorizing its neighbour, CBC, in our view, repeatedly cast Israel as the primary villain.