If Concordia University’s The Link newspaper is any indication, the new year has brought no improvement in the journalistic standards being exhibited on Canadian campus newspapers.

A January 14 news article by Maria Cholakova entitled: “Concordia hires external security firm founded by ex-Israeli soldier,” was a case study in agenda-driven news.

Cholakova, whose anti-Israel news coverage is nothing new, reported that over the course of two months in late 2024, Concordia University spent around $30,000 in external security hires to oversee demonstrations on campus.

And why, according to The Link, would this be news? Because among the hired security were companies run by and employing Israeli-Canadians.

Cholakova stated that one of the companies was founded by an Israeli man who has been accused of “anti-Palestinian practices” by “activists.”

Not only did Cholakova not explain what these supposedly “anti-Palestinian practices” are, it is not clear who the “activists” are making these allegations, and whether they are credible voices themselves, or instead are disseminators of hateful anti-Israel disinformation.

Putting on her proverbial tin foil hat, Cholakova dug deeper in search of a story, writing that “students have also raised concerns” about one company’s ties with another security consulting firm, founded by another Israeli man.

At this juncture, it is clear that only some “students” have voices which are worthy of being told by The Link. Jewish and Israeli students, who have faced harassment and hate for more than 15 months, are ignored entirely, in favour of anti-Israel “activists.” The tacit message is that Israelis, or companies founded by Israelis, couldn’t possibly be trusted to help provide safety and security for Concordia University students. Worse yet, for these students, it’s fair game to discriminate against someone because of their national origin.

If there are actual complaints against these security companies, beyond them simply being run by Israelis, what are they? Cholakova wrote that they have been “accused of physically assaulting students while stationed at pro-Palestine demonstrations,” linking to a video from the fanatically anti-Israel and pro-terrorist SPHR group which, according to Cholakova, shows them “aggressively pushing students away from picketing actions…”

But a cursory glance at the video linked in the article shows otherwise, and even Cholakova quotes a campus administrator who pointed out that they helped “prevent an escalation between students.”

In spite of two brief quotes from the university, The Link’s article overwhelmingly quoted “activists” complaining about the presence of Israelis on campus. One student, Zeyad Abisaab, a member of the vocally pro-terrorist group Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), was quoted as saying that “the main function of security is to provide safety and a sense of security to students,” with Cholakova adding that “he believes that if you were to ask students how they feel around unknown mercenaries, students would not feel safe.”

Had The Link spoken to other students who were not members of pro-terrorist “activist” organizations, they might have spoken to Jewish students who have experienced a tidal wave of hate speech and actions, in particular since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacres in Israel. But in The Link’s retelling, those voices are irrelevant and not deserving of even a cursory mention. Instead, students complaining about Israelis on campus were given yet another platform. This was just bigotry masquerading as journalism.