Nadia Kidwai is the host of the CBC radio program The Weekend Morning Show (Manitoba), and has repeatedly abused her platform to feature lengthy anti-Israel diatribes while offering virtually no attempt at balance whatsoever. Instead, her program regularly interviews anti-Israel activists, providing little to no challenge to them, all while effectively censoring opposing views.

So when Francesca Albanese, the extremist anti-Israel United Nations ‘Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967,’ visited Canada, it should come as little surprise that she was given a lengthy and characteristically with velvet gloves.

In the November 10 segment, which lasted some 23 minutes, Kidwai introduced the discussion by introducing Albanese, while making no mention of her defence of Hamas terrorism, her speaking at a Hamas conference, or her spreading of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.

Click below to watch the full interview:

During the interview, Albanese characterized a January interim judgement from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) saying that the world court “recognized the possibility of genocide.”

This is a meaningless obfuscation of the truth. The court rejected demands to call on Israel to halt its counter-terrorism operations against Hamas, merely reminding Jerusalem to continue to adhere to international law. As two legal observers noted at the time, “nothing in the ICJ’s decision concludes – or even implies – that Israel has violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention.”

Undeterred by such minor details as factual accuracy or truth, Albanese continued in her anti-Israel diatribe, alleging that in Gaza, there was “no more arable land, no more ways to produce food.”

Embarrassingly, the United Nations itself, hardly friendly when it comes to Israel, has flatly contradicted her claims, noting that the majority of agricultural greenhouses in Gaza remain operational. Furthermore, bakeries inside the coastal enclave are able to produce over two million pitas and other breads every single day.

However, the main thrust of Albanese’s soliloquy was that Israel was committing “genocide” in Gaza, in spite of extensive evidence showing Israel providing warning to Gazan civilians in advance of counter-terrorism efforts, carrying out precision strikes, and putting its own soldiers directly in harm’s way in order to avoid civilian casualties when possible, as noted by experts in urban warfare.

Instead, Albanese presented as evidence two main pillars: rhetoric from Israeli officials, and widespread damage inside Gaza.

While there was indisputably bellicose rhetoric from some Israeli officials after the horrific Hamas massacres of October 7, 2023, there is simply no evidence to suggest that they are official Israeli government policy, rather than emotional reactions to the biggest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.

In fact, even as some Israelis, infuriated after Hamas’ massacres, demanded Jerusalem occupy Gaza, Israel’s prime minister pointedly reiterated that Israel had no interest in occupying the territory.

As for Albanese’s argument that widespread damage in Gaza somehow constitutes genocide, this is a statement that is simply without merit. As is widely documented, Hamas has spent decades converting huge swathes of Gaza, including civilian infrastructure, into operations for its terrorism, including its massive tunnel system, where an estimated 101 hostages kidnapped from Israel are thought to be held, more than 400 days later.

Citing unverified and statistically implausible Hamas casualty figures, Albanese told Kidwai that some 70 percent of deaths in Gaza are women and children, suggesting that Israel is striking the territory indiscriminately.

While such nonsense can be expected of Albanese, Kidwai, as a supposed journalist, should have pushed back, stating that Israel says that nearly half of those killed are Hamas terrorists. Even if Kidwai were to dismiss such claims – on what basis, it would not be clear – that immediately renders Albanese’s statement as utter rubbish.

If Israel’s figures are even remotely accurate, according to data from the United Nations then that would render the civilian casualties from the Hamas-Israel war lower than virtually any other armed conflict.

The rest of Albanese’s interview with Kidwai consisted of absurd accusations calling Israel a “settler colonial enterprise,” despite Israel boasting a far longer history than any people identifying as Palestinian, calling Hamas a “political movement,” and calling Israeli soldiers “willful executioners of the genocidal plan.”

Albanese, as a longtime apologist for Palestinian terrorism, has long ago destroyed any reputation she may have once had. As for Kidwai, by incessantly giving anti-Israel propagandists an open platform on her program – while censoring pro-Israel views – she has apparently decided to eagerly pursue the same goal.