Just days after the ouster of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, primarily at the hands of a shadowy Islamist group, a recent CBC Ottawa radio program predictably pointed its finger at what it apparently considers the biggest danger to the country’s future: Israel.
In a segment on the December 11 episode of the Ottawa Morning radio program entitled: “Tracking the latest developments in Syria,” the CBC’s host spoke with Samer Abboud, associate professor of global studies at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.
Click below to listen to the full segment:
Within seconds of the segment’s launch, the CBC’s journalist told listeners that “Israeli forces are pressing further into Syrian territory,” saying nothing more about what Israeli forces were doing in Syria, or why they were there.
CBC Portrays Israel As A Threat To Innocent Syrians
After speaking with Abboud about the transitional Syrian government, she immediately pivoted to Israel, expressing that she was “concerned” as a “distant bystander” about a power vacuum in Syria, stating that “Israeli troops are pressing into Syrian territory,” once again offering no context about what was happening, or why.
Abboud, for his part, stated that “this is very scary” – a word he did not use to describe the march of jihadists throughout Syria – and spoke in detail about Israeli operations against Syrian targets.
Abboud stated that “I heard this morning that they (Israel) are as far as 25 kilometres outside of their already existing occupation zone,” ignoring that Israel has denied those reports, and the CBC’s host did not challenge him on this.
By referring to Israel’s annexed Golan Heights – home to tens of thousands of Israelis – as an “already existing occupation zone,” listeners were thus given the message that Israel was seeking little more than a land grab in Syria, though there is zero evidentiary basis for this.
On the contrary, Israel’s entry to a tiny mountain peak, following the collapse of the Syrian regime, is aimed at ensuring that it is no longer vulnerable to ongoing drone attacks from the Lebanese/Syrian border region, and to help ensure that jihadist groups are not able to attack Israel.
Furthermore, the CBC program ignored how in 2019, the Trump administration recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.
CBC Ignores Israel’s Self-Defense Rationale
At no time did Abboud or the CBC’s host offer a single word about what prompted Israel to strike targets related to the Assad regime. What Abboud failed to mention – and the CBC’s host opted not to remind listeners – is that it was precisely this power vacuum which prompted Israel to ensure that the Syrian regime’s extensive military resources, including chemical weapons, did not fall into the hands of a jihadist group.
While Abboud may or may not agree with this rationale, it was deeply misleading for him to completely ignore it, and highly irresponsible for the CBC’s host to make no effort to point this out.
Additionally, while Abboud complained that Israel had struck a passport office in Damascus, saying it was “destabilizing,” curiously neither person pointed out that Israel had also destroyed sites used by the Assad regime to create chemical weapons, which it had used mercilessly against the country’s own citizens.
Abboud is entitled to his own views about what right Israel has to defend itself against the rise of Islamist groups in Syria, but the host of this CBC radio program not only introduced Israel as a topic for her guest while offering exactly zero background as to the rationale behind Jerusalem’s actions, but she did not even once challenge or even question Abboud to include any pertinent context.
Instead, what could have become an informative interview has once again become CBC custom – a light-on-facts hit job on Israel, paid for by the Canadian taxpayer.
