On September 24, CityNews reporter and anchor Melissa Nakhavoly reported on a protest outside of Israel’s consulate in Toronto in a report entitled: “Hundreds protest growing violence in Lebanon.”

As Nakhavoly explained it in her report: “The impact of the war of the Middle East continues to be felt … as the conflict widens into Lebanon, people are taking to the streets in Toronto.”

Watch the full segment below:

CityNews cut right to protestors chanting: “Justin Trudeau you can’t hide, you signed up for genocide.” Yes, the keffiyeh-adorned protestors — one holding a sign that “Looks Like A Nazi, Talks Like A Nazi, Commits Terrorism, Murders Children FASTER Than Nazis… It’s Israel” — are accusing Israel of genocide against Lebanon.

One interviewee, Mohammed William from the pro-terrorist group, Palestinian Youth Movement, described the protest as one against “what started in Gaza a year ago,” describing it as having “developed into a war in Lebanon, in Yemen.”

What started a year ago was not in Gaza, but rather in Israel, when Hamas terrorists broke into Israel’s sovereign borders and tortured, raped, murdered, and kidnapped Israelis, over a hundred of whom are still held hostage in Gaza today. The only war in Yemen is the ongoing civil war between the government and the Houthis, the latter of which have taken it upon themselves to attack Israel on multiple occasions since Hamas’ massacres of October 7th, 2023.

Beyond the preposterous notion that genocide is occurring in Gaza and now Lebanon, Nakhavoly reported on this protest without providing any context of recent developments between Israel and Hezbollah. Nakhavoly mentioned the terrorist group a measly single time, almost as a side effect regarding the “escalating tensions.”

“Israel struck Beirut for a second consecutive day on Tuesday where six people were killed as a result,” reported Nakhavoly, with no mention of Hezbollah, the intended target, or who the “six people” were who were killed.

She went on to characterize the war against Hezbollah describing how “the airstrikes that hit Lebanon have been some of the deadliest in decades.”

She also sought out individuals to reflect perspective, particularly Ali Mallah, a Lebanese man who remarked that “what we see now [in Lebanon] is much, much worse, when you see children blown to pieces. (…) And to answer you directly, it’s much, much worse than the 2006” war.

This is the same Ali Mallah that, according to B’nai Brith Canada, made a speech at Al-Quds Day demonstration in Toronto back in 2016, holding that Palestinians “have the right to resist their occupation by any means necessary.” His logic was that: “Here in Canada, if somebody attacks us we will attack and shoot them, alright? So why is it okay then to occupy Palestinian land and oppress Palestinian people?”

The problem with CityNews characterizing this as a protest “to end the violence in the Middle East” is that what the protestors are calling for is, in praxis, for Israel to lay down and continuously accept the violence targeting its citizens. It’s only a protest against the “escalating tension” in the Middle East when Israel begins to retaliate against the terrorist group that has been targeting the country since October 8th, 2023.

And it wouldn’t be a biased report nor an anti-Israel protest without token Jews, particularly a member of “Jews Say No to Genocide,” and a smiling Neturei Karta member filmed embracing Ali Mallah. While many of our readers may know these groups as fringe, by giving voice to groups like these, CityNews misleads viewers into thinking there’s significant Jewish support for anti-Israel narratives. These groups are outliers, yet their inclusion distorts the broader Jewish perspective.

Worse, the report’s failure to explain Hezbollah’s ongoing role in the war since October 8th, or the true nature of Hamas and the Houthis, leaves viewers with a skewed view of the war. The narrative becomes one where Israel is the aggressor, ignoring the reality of its multi-front fight against terror that threatens its existence.

In this report by Melissa Nakhavoly, CityNews missed the mark, offering a shallow portrayal of a deeply complex situation, where facts are sacrificed for a more convenient headline.