CBC News’ well-documented anti-Israel bias is not just exhibited by what the public broadcaster chooses to share, but what it fails to mention.

In a July 8 article, “UN inquiry urges release of Gaza hospital chief held by Israel since December 2024,” originally published by the Thomson Reuters news wire, CBC News told readers about the case of Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, who was arrested by Israel in late 2024. CBC News’ omission of relevant context regarding Abu Safiya’s apparent Hamas ties left readers without information essential to their understanding of the story.

The article’s main story is that the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) has condemned his arrest, is alleging that he was abused at the hands of Israeli authorities, and is demanding his release.

What was conspicuously absent was any mention whatsoever that multiple sources identify Abu Safiya as an operative with the rank of colonel inside the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Images feature him wearing a military uniform during a Hamas meeting, and Palestinian media has referred to him by military rank. Even Gaza’s Hamas-run medical services body refers to Abu Safiya as a colonel.

As investigator Eitan Fischberger noted, Palestinian media reporting on the Kamal Adwan Hospital uses verbiage that would appear to suggest that the medical complex also serves military purposes. Entirely unsurprisingly, Abu Safiya’s Facebook page also features multiple posts glorifying Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacres, and while not indicative of a formal role in Hamas, it is noteworthy.

Yet none of this evidence was given even a passing mention by CBC News, which instead omitted it entirely.

It is not as if this information was difficult to come by; it has been extensively documented and is readily available, and whether CBC News believes the accusations of Hamas ties or not, it is duty-bound to acknowledge them given the central relevance this plays in the article.

Instead, the crux of the article relies on the controversial anti-Israel CoI body, which critics have pointed out has “condemned Israel more times than it has condemned Iran, Syria, and North Korea put together,” and that “terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad are ignored.”

While it does acknowledge that “Israel has accused the inquiry of having a political agenda,” this is woefully insufficient. Not only does it not actually identify any of the evidence that points to the CoI’s longstanding anti-Israel agenda, it still portrays the commission’s allegations as being de facto credible, notwithstanding offering readers only the briefest of acknowledgements.

This CBC News article is hardly anomalous. On multiple occasions since October 7, 2023, allegations by groups with documented anti-Israel histories have been uncritically repeated by Canada’s publicly-funded broadcaster. Meanwhile, experts who have debunked allegations of “genocide” are routinely ignored.

 If CBC News wants to regurgitate unproven allegations against Israel by the controversial Commission of Inquiry, then it is duty-bound to share with readers both the extent of the commission’s anti-Israel agenda, and the detailed accusations of ties to Hamas against the Gaza doctor. Indefensibly, the news outlet did neither.