As part of CBC News’ ongoing fixation on the presence of Israelis in their ancestral lands, a pair of CBC News reports provided continued coverage of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in Judea & Samaria (or in media parlance, the “West Bank”), providing a dramatically skewed picture for Canadians.
Two CBC Reports Sideline Israel’s Historical and Legal Claims
The August 20 broadcast and accompanying August 22 news article, both from Senior International Correspondent Margaret Evans (whose deeply problematic reporting has been repeatedly documented by HonestReporting Canada) misleadingly framed the issue as Israel allegedly occupying Palestinian land.
Watch the full clip:
Evans repeatedly used the term “occupied West Bank,” and offered zero insight into Israel’s extensive legal and historical rights to the area, and Jewish presence there that far predates the advent of Islam.
Instead of presenting the full unvarnished picture to Canadians, Evans effectively in our view laundered pro-Palestinian talking points into a pair of news stories, where Israel was depicted as having no right to be in its own lands.
Allegations of Israeli Violence Presented Without Essential Context
Her reports repeated a number of common phrases used in CBC News reports, such as allegations of “settler violence,” once again providing no context, such as citing reports that have found such claims are wildly overstated, and even include incidents of Palestinian terrorism, which Evans also completely omitted. It goes without saying that acts of violence initiated and committed by Israelis in Judea and Samaria is appalling and should be met with the full force of Israeli law.
Evans’ broadcast was cartoonishly one-sided, featuring clips by four individuals (two Palestinians and a pro-Palestinian activist), while the other was US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who, while a supporter of Israel, was featured condemning a group of Israelis. No voice was given who could have articulated the right of Israelis to live in their historic lands.
In her accompanying news report, Evans used the inflammatory term “militant Israeli settlers,” a highly charged choice of words that mirrors how the taxpayer-funded broadcaster refers to Palestinian terrorists, who actively murder Israeli civilians.
The supposed “militant Israeli settlers” in question, near the Arab village of Qusra, did not murder, rape, torture, nor kidnap anyone, but CBC News nevertheless apparently saw it fit to apply the same term to them as it does to the Palestinian terrorists who committed the October 7, 2023 massacres.
Evans’ report did not present the news as it stands, but a specifically curated version which mimicked pro-Palestinian claims, using terms like “occupied West Bank,” as well as “hardline Jewish settlers,” and claiming that these “settlers” seek to push Palestinians “from their land.”
Pro-Palestinian Claims Treated as Settled Fact
Like a number of other reports in both CBC News and elsewhere documented by HonestReporting Canada, Margaret Evans’ broadcast and article did not provide even the barest of what could be reasonably considered balanced journalism, nor did she make any ostensible effort to present pro-Palestinian claims as anything but settled fact.
Evans’ reports provided zero insight into the ancient Jewish ties to Judea & Samaria, nor why Israel considers it to be an inseparable part of the country. Furthermore, she provided viewers and readers no understanding about the total absence of any previous Palestinian state in the area, which did not preclude her from unabashedly referring to the territory as “Palestinian.”
Evans’ reports continue to provide evidence of CBC News’ well-documented anti-Israel bias, paid for by the ever-generous Canadian taxpayer.
