A radical anti-Israel commentator from the University of Saskatchewan was recently the guest on a CBC radio program where she spent 12 minutes in a nearly uninterrupted diatribe, misrepresenting the danger of Iran’s nuclear program and spreading scurrilous falsehoods about Israel, all while her host failed to make any meaningful attempt to challenge or correct any of her statements.

In the June 24 edition of Saskatoon Morning, host Stephanie Massicotte spoke with Colleen Bell, an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan. They previously spoke in January, when Bell bizarrely blamed Israel for Hamas’ decision to continue the war.

Bell began her remarks by stating that “both Israel and Iran broke the ceasefire this morning,” a demonstrable falsehood that ignored that Iran first fired a missile into northern Israel after the ceasefire was announced. Only after that happened did Israel hit a radar site outside Tehran in retaliation, but such details are apparently meaningless for an expert on “racism and colonialism,” as Bell’s website proudly proclaims.

Bell made no distinction between Israel’s targeting of Iranian nuclear and military sites, and in sharp contrast, the Iranian regime’s repeated targeting of Israeli civilian sites, including a hospital, civilian homes, and more. Instead, she papered over this chasm of difference, simply saying that Iran “reciprocated” against Israel, as if Israel targeting a regime official and Iran targeting a daycare are the same thing.

Bell postulated that Israel “really would like to see the regime collapse in Iran.” While this is an obvious point – even most Iranians inside the country want to see that – there is simply no evidence that Jerusalem sought to pursue that goal, a point even noted by strident Israel critic Doug Saunders, who acknowledged that the country did not target Iranian regime figures, just military ones.

Bell continued her soliloquy by proclaiming that “no evidence that Iran has developed nuclear weapons or is even that close to developing nuclear weapons.” This may be her sincerely-held opinion, but she is flat wrong and is grossly misrepresenting the reality.

Sources including the United States Central Command (CENTOM) and Tulsi Gabbard, the United States director of national intelligence, both testified that Iran was extremely close to the development of a nuclear weapon, and in CENTOM’s case, its commander said on June 10 that Tehran was as little as three weeks away from developing 10 nuclear devices. There is simply no basis for Bell blatantly misinforming readers on a matter so critical as Iran’s nuclear program.

Instead of being honest with listeners, Bell said that striking Iran’s nuclear facilities would somehow incentivize it to pursue nuclear weapons, a nonsensical statement that ignores how Iran was in fact already aggressively pursuing those devices.

Despite hosting a guest with such strident views, and finding herself unencumbered by minor details such as factual accuracy, host Stephanie Massicotte neglected to push back on Bell’s comments, instead letting them stand entirely unopposed.

Later, Bell pivoted to the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, and spread the falsehood of “genocide in Gaza,” a dangerous slur to which there is no evidence whatsoever, and a mountain of proof to the contrary. Once again, Massicotte made no attempt to hold her guest accountable for spreading such disinformation.

The conversation ended with Bell rattling off a litany of allegations against Israel, including making the unfounded claim of “severe malnutrition” in Gaza, an accusation to which Massicotte could have – and indeed, should have – challenged her guest. Once again, she did not.

In platforming Colleen Bell’s inflammatory and misleading remarks without challenge, CBC’s Saskatoon Morning radio program failed its journalistic duty to ensure accuracy and balance, and instead allowed itself to be a platform for extremist anti-Israel rhetoric.