The month of June, and into early July, saw a number of CBC News articles authored by Senior Writer Sara Jabakhanji, a signatory of a 2021 open letter which called for more pro-Palestinian news coverage. In her latest reports, Jabakhanji continued her practice of leaning heavily into anti-Israel sources and demonstrating an overt bias that fundamentally serves to mislead her readers.

Her June 11 article entitled: “Dozens of Canadians gather in Egypt ahead of global march to Gaza border,” was a lengthy puff piece profiling a group of Canadians who flew to Egypt in a publicity stunt aimed at demonizing Israel’s humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza. Beyond a brief statement from the Israeli government, there was no balance and little context offered to readers, and even Jabakhanji’s own reporting claimed that Israel has sent in only “limited food supplies” into Gaza, a choice of wording that significantly misrepresents the 11,000 tonnes of food sent into the territory in just the first 11 days of June.  

Two days later, Jabakhanji reported on the fallout from the march in Egypt in an article entitled: “Canadian demonstrators held, passports confiscated ahead of planned global march to Egypt-Gaza border,” where those present were brusquely turned away by Egyptian authorities, marking an end to their publicity stunt. Jabakhanji’s article included a quote from pro-Hamas extremist (and Ottawa physician) Yipeng Ge whining how Egyptian authorities confiscated their passports, while saying nothing about Ge’s public and repeated expressions of support for Palestinian terrorists. The article also repeated the libel that Israel is limiting aid into Gaza.

On June 25, Jabakhanji jumped onto the CBC News bandwagon, repeating unverified accusations that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to get food in Gaza, conveniently ignoring that these reports emanate from a tiny handful of individuals, including a Hamas operative in the enclave. Her article entitled: “Why are hundreds of Palestinians getting killed trying to access food in Gaza?,” quoted the Hamas-run “Gaza Health Ministry” as claiming deaths near aid distribution sites, and failing to mention why Israel took over aid distribution, namely because too much was being stolen and re-sold by Palestinian terrorist groups.

Jabakhanji’s next article entitled: “Family clans try to secure aid convoys in Gaza from criminal lootings,” published June 27 and co-authored with colleague Yasmine Hassan, was devoted to reporting on theft of aid from various Palestinian factions, and while only briefly mentioning that Israel has accused it of stealing aid, depicted Hamas as a party helping to keep the peace in Gaza and combat thieves.

On Canada Day, Jabakhanji continued her nonstop coverage of criticism from activist groups against Israel’s aid deliveries into Gaza. Her article entitled: “People in Gaza ‘starve or risk being shot’: NGO urge end to aid work backed by U.S., Israel as deaths rise,” quoted Ha’aretz, a far-left Israeli newspaper, which alleged without evidence that Israeli soldiers had shot Palestinian civilians at aid sites. What Jabakhanji notably omitted was Israel’s strident denial that there was any validity to that story.

The following day, another article entitled: “Director of north Gaza hospital killed alongside his family in Israeli strike on apartment.” quoted the extremist anti-Israel activist group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders, as accusing Israel of, as Jabakhanji paraphrased it, “targeting hospitals,” and cited the Hamas-run “Gaza Ministry of Health” (which she avoided mentioning is run by Hamas), as saying that healthcare workers have been killed in the war. No mention was made of how Palestinian terrorist groups have weaponized hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in Gaza, and used them to keep weapons, fighters and even hostages. MSF has been one of the worst offenders helping to sanitize Hamas’ presence in Gaza’s hospitals.

Then, on July 3, Jabakhanji authored a report entitled: “Militarized Gaza aid system shows Israel’s continued use of starvation as weapon of war, Amnesty report says,” where accusations from yet another radical anti-Israel group, Amnesty International, becomes the basis for yet another news article. This practice of turning anti-Israel press releases into stories, while ignoring reports that conflict with this narrative, has become quite a pattern at CBC News. Her report also mentioned Ha’aretz’s unfounded and incendiary claims, and once again ignored Israel’s strenuous denials.

At first glance, Sara Jabakhanji’s articles appear not to be egregious, since they typically offer at least some nod to Israel’s statements. But the focus is virtually always on allegations against Jerusalem, and it seems that no claim, no matter how ungrounded, is regularly the basis for a news report.