Even at CBC News, arguably the most prominent creator and disseminator of anti-Israel content in the Canadian news media landscape, some reporters are among the most regular contributors to this extreme bias.
Incredibly, Senior Writer Sara Jabakhanji, who in 2021 signed an open letter calling for more pro-Palestinian content in the news media, continues to write on the very topic to which she publicly advocated, and has produced consistently problematic content.
In a November 4 article, “Israeli military’s former top lawyer arrested days after resigning over leaked video of alleged prison abuse,” she covered allegations of abuse against Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. While a fair topic to report on, her editorial decision to cover this type of story while overlooking reports such as those documenting Palestinian war crimes, is notable.
On November 28, her report, “UN calls for independent investigation into ‘apparent summary execution’ of 2 Palestinians in West Bank,” covered allegations that Israeli troops killed two Palestinians. The headline made no mention of the fact that they were accused terrorists, and only midway through the article does Jabakhanji acknowledge this, before twice stating that Israel did not “disclose any evidence of their alleged link with a terrorist network.”
Accusing Israel of failing to provide evidence – while notably not making the same claim for Palestinians – has been a past practice of Jabakhanji’s.
Days later, on December 1, she was back with another article, “Canadian injured in West Bank settler attack says they were beaten, passports were stolen.” Yet again, allegations against Israel are treated as de facto truthful, in contrast to Israeli accusations. Repeatedly throughout the article, the woman’s accusations are presented as fact, not as claims.
On December 15, following the Islamic terrorist attack targeting Jews in Sydney, Australia, Jabakhanji covered the story in her article, “What we know about Ahmed al-Ahmed, the Bondi Beach bystander who disarmed gunman.” Her article did not cover the scourge of Islamic radicalism, the story of unchecked pro-Hamas rallies in Australia, but about a lone Muslim man who helped disarm one of the attackers. While it is a valid story to tell, her selective focus is indicative of her consistent bias. Even when Jews were massacred by a fanatical Islamic terrorist, she reframed the story completely.
The following day, her gaze was back to the Middle East, where she was back with another article, “Damaged homes collapsing in Gaza, trapping families under rubble following winter storm.” In her report – “with files from CBC’s Mohamed El Saife,” a freelance videographer working for CBC who has spread vile anti-Israel propaganda on social media – she repeats claims from activist groups who allege that “there is still very little aid getting into Gaza.”
Despite the lengthy report, only at the tail end does she provide a very brief repudiation of that characterization by the Israeli agency COGAT. However, the overwhelming focus of the report, and the vast majority of its content, is devoted to drawing a completely different picture, even as there remains widespread evidence to suggest that such apocalyptic depictions are hardly in line with reality.
And while it is indeed winter in the Middle East, ‘winter’ is a relative term. In Gaza, daily highs hover around 20 degrees Celsius, in sharp contrast to the dreary picture drawn by Jabakhanji in her article.
Sara Jabakhanji’s recent articles are no anomaly; they are the latest installments in her ongoing coverage of the Middle East, where anti-Israel claims are amplified and opposing statements are almost entirely ignored.
