In an August 29 CBC Power and Politics panel discussion entitled: “Israel agrees to pauses in fighting in Gaza for polio vaccination, amid escalating tensions in the West Bank,” a guest made some concerning comments which should have been challenged by our public broadcaster’s host, Catherine Cullen, who allowed her rhetoric to stand without any pushback.

Click below to watch the full segment:

While largely an ordinary analytical conversation about various geopolitical considerations and opinions, panelist Randa Slim, a director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, downplayed the significance that terrorism poses as the primary cause of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, while also casting doubt about Israel’s legitimate history and viewpoints.

In discussing recent Israeli counterterrorism operations, Slim stated that: “as the situation in the West Bank escalates, especially if you start getting close to religious sites that have important symbolism and are extremely important to the Muslims around the world, you are going to see more and more anger.” At one point, she said she “understand[s] Iran sending weapons, because there is a milieu that wants to resist” and that “the real problem is…the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.”

These comments paint a very distorted picture of the situation in the region, falsely presenting Israel as the aggressor in its defensive war while also erasing the entire Israeli point of view.

Palestinian terrorism is the sole reason that Israel is engaged in any conflict right now — be it in the “West Bank” (i.e. Judea & Samaria), the Gaza Strip, South Lebanon, or elsewhere. All of these areas are home to fanatical violent terrorist groups whose members are committed to the fantasy of genocide against Israel and are doing whatever they can to turn it into a reality. Each of these fronts has seen terrorists repeatedly take innocent Israeli lives in recent weeks, months, and years. In the months prior to the current war, record numbers of terrorist attacks originated from Judea & Samaria/West Bank as militias and branches of terrorist groups organized themselves into fighting forces to attack and murder Israelis — all made possible thanks to Iran’s smuggling of weapons into their hands.

While the other panelist, fellow panelist Thomas Juneau, did acknowledge this important fact, Slim chose to dismiss it entirely and instead seemingly excused it as an understandable form of “resistance” to Israeli “occupation.”

If one is unwilling to acknowledge that violent terrorism targeting civilians is wrong, regardless of the political context, and one is instead eager to make excuses for bad behavior, one’s credibility must be called into question.

Not only is terrorism unequivocally wrong, it is also the core reason for both the current war and the overall conflict as a whole. “Occupation” [of disputed territories], as Slim and other anti-Israel detractors call it, is the direct result of extremist Arab nationalists’ unsuccessful efforts to wipe Israel off the map through violence. Terrorism led to so-called ‘occupation,’ not the other way around. Israel has offered numerous times to negotiate all or parts of the “West Bank” for a future Palestinian state, only to be rejected by extremists. In the absence of a truly peaceful resolution, giving up this crucial strategic territory would pose an existential danger to Israel’s population, as it would leave its major cities vulnerable to large-scale attacks.

But downplaying the reality of terrorism isn’t the only way Slim crossed the line. By calling “West Bank” religious sites “extremely important to the Muslims around the world,” ignored the fact that these sites are also holy to Jews and have been for thousands of years. Why would she find it any less objectionable, sensitive, or worthy of mention for Palestinian terrorists to attack places like Joseph’s Tomb or the Old Jewish Quarter of Hebron than she finds it when Israel’s military defends against attacks when they are cynically launched from sacred Muslim places of worship? This disturbing double standard and historical revisionism is unjustifiable.

The need for open dialogue and debate in political discussions is a very important thing — but it is equally important to clearly call out instances where that intention is misused to suit a biased agenda. And in this CBC News panel, host Catherine Cullen failed to press Slim on her radical statements.