Allegations leveled against Israel, and given media coverage, often follow a familiar formula. First, genocidal Iranian-backed proxies are overlooked from the picture, enabling the framing of Israel as committing wanton violence. The second element is relying on casualty figures derived from unreliable methodologies, whether based on unverified or terrorist sources, while ignoring Hamas’ practice of using civilians as human shields – making disputed casualty claims appear solely the result of Israeli actions.

A June 23 CBC News broadcast, “Israel committing genocide by targeting children in Gaza: UN commission of inquiry,” followed this familiar outline. Crystal Goomansingh reported from Jerusalem. Goomansingh has offered problematic reports before, such as a February 2026 where she featured Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) complaints about Israeli security protocols without explaining why the security was necessary.

Watch the full clip below:

Anchor Andrew Nichols introduced the broadcast, saying “A new report from the United Nations is accusing Israeli forces of intentionally targeting Palestinian children…” He did add that Israel called the allegations a “libelous sham.” The report was from the UN’s Commission of Inquiry (CoI), led by individuals with long anti-Israel track records, including making comments widely condemned as anti-Jewish.

Goomansingh continued referencing the report as saying that, “actions by Israel, it says… form part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of the Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children.”

Goomansingh did include that Israel said “That it is an outrageous propaganda piece,” and that “The COI is a fundamentally flawed mechanism whose very purpose is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth.”

But that was it. Goomansingh did not provide any further details on why the COI is fundamentally flawed or what exactly was amiss with their latest report.  Instead, she described it as having a “three-member expert panel, and being conducted by an “Independent international commission of enquiry.”

The COI was established in 2021 by the UN to investigate international law violations in Israel and the occupied territories, with no end date. In June 2023, 27 countries, including Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., wrote a joint letter denouncing the COI’s unusually open-ended mandate, arguing that it was a “further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel in the [UN Human Rights] Council”. Furthermore, the COI’s members include Chris Sidoti, who has been called a “close friend and ally” to the PA (Palestine Authority), which governs the “West Bank”, and continues to operate its controversial “pay-for-slay” policy rewarding those who murder Israelis. Yet Goomansingh called the COI ‘independent.’

Also absent from the CBC broadcast was one of the report’s most striking omissions, as UN Watch pointed out, “Across 94 pages, the Report never acknowledges that the IDF was fighting a heavily armed force of tens of thousands of Hamas and PIJ operatives who constructed hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, embedded military infrastructure throughout civilian areas…”

Instead, the report stated that, “The Commission could not find any indication of a threat towards members of the Israeli security forces.” Hamas operatives routinely wear civilian clothing and embed themselves in civilian areas. No wonder they weren’t observed. Yet Goomansingh didn’t mention any of this basic context, crucial for understanding the report.

Goomansingh repeated the report’s claim that more than 20,000 children had been killed and more than 40,000 injured “as a direct result of hostilities,” without telling viewers how those figures had been derived. Presumably they are sourced in the Hamas-run Gaza Health ministry whose data is multiply flawed, including because it conflates civilian and combatant casualties. Additionally, ‘children’ are 0-18 year olds, and Hamas has long used minors in its terror operations.

Goomansingh also reported that the commission examined “168 cases over a 2-year period” and concluded that at least 70 children were shot by quadcopters. Yet, as UN Watch noted, the report does not establish that Israeli soldiers intentionally targeted those children. In one example cited by UN Watch, a doctor claimed to have seen children shot by quadcopters, but the report offers no explanation of how the doctor determined the source of the fire or whether it originated from Israeli quadcopters at all.

Goomansingh also stated that “The report also includes a number of recommendations, including a call on Israel to end all of its military operations in Gaza.”

Hamas and Hezbollah openly proclaim their goal to destroy Israel. The COI omitted this crucial fact that defines the conflict, and Goomansingh did not supply it. The COI’s call on Israel to end its military action denies Israel of its right to self-defense, without which it would not exist.

Once again, CBC News presented viewers with allegations against Israel stripped of the military context in which the war is being fought and without any meaningful scrutiny of the commission making those allegations. Rather than equipping audiences to assess the report critically, Nichols and Goomansingh amplified its conclusions while withholding information essential to evaluating them.