A May 18 Global News broadcast by reporter Neetu Garcha crossed the line from journalism into activism. Her report entitled: “Gaza marks 77 years since Nakba with renewed calls for awareness,” promoted a one-sided, historically distorted, and deeply biased narrative against Israel.

Watch the full segment:

The text accompanying the report on Global News’s site aimed to provide context for viewers, but instead spread outright falsehoods. For example, it claimed that “More than 700,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes following the creation of Israel.”

Did the creation of the State of Israel force Arabs out of their homes? In fact, Israel’s Declaration of Independence invited Arabs to remain as full and equal citizens.

Immediately after declaring independence, Israel was attacked by five Arab nations. Arab leaders told their communities to leave—promising that they could soon return to their homes. Jewish leaders begged Arab citizens to remain and preserve “equality and peace… harmonious relations.” Nevertheless, tens of thousands of Arabs left and others were displaced. Only decades later did they reframe that exodus as a forced expulsion at the hands of brutal Israelis.

Yet Garcha’s narrative highlighted Palestinian suffering with zero historical context. She didn’t mention Arab leadership’s rejection of the Palestine partition plan, coordinated attacks by Arab nations, or the expulsion of 850,000 Jews from Arab countries and Iran.

Once Garcha established this false historical narrative, she brought in Palestinian-Canadian Arwa Shurab, who claimed that events in Gaza are a direct continuation of the “Nakba.”

Neither Garcha nor Shurab mentioned Hamas, its charter calling for Israel’s destruction, or the October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel and massacre of 1,200 Israelis that triggered the war.

By failing to mention terrorism, Israeli security concerns, or the hundreds of hostages captured that day, Garcha erased the complexities of the conflict. She depicted Israel as the sole aggressor in the region—in the past as well as in the present.

Garcha also featured Vancouver restaurant owner Sobhi Al-Zobaidi, whose establishment, Tamam, glorified Hamas’ massacres on Facebook. Garcha said nothing about this praise of Islamist terrorism.

Zobaidi said Palestinian-Canadians are “finding common ground” with indigenous people like activist Dakota Bear, owner of “Decolonial Clothing.” Bear has previously accused Israel of “war crimes and crimes against humanity.” He compared the struggle of the Palestinian people with that of First Nations people.

This is a false equivalency and an inversion of history. Jews have maintained an unbroken presence in Israel for thousands of years. They have never given up on settling this land. Jewish presence in Israel dates back long before any Arab (and certainly Muslim) presence. Zionism is a return to an ancestral homeland, not a foreign colonial enterprise. The term “colonize” implies exploitation by a foreign power. The State of Israel, on the other hand, represents self-determination for the Jewish people. This is a recognized right of any indigenous population.

Bear says Palestinians and First Nations people have “collective action” in common. It’s not clear if this is a euphemism for the murder and kidnapping of Israeli and other civilians, including children. If so, he is guilty of whitewashing terror—but Garcha didnn’t ask for clarification.

Finally, Garcha moved onto the British Columbia social studies curriculum. She showed footage of a demonstration supposedly organized by children. They are demanding that B.C. include the “Nakba” in history classes.

UBC professor Lindsay Gibson said: “It’s very interesting to me… that our premier… would make Holocaust education mandatory to deal with antisemitism, but wouldn’t make the same statement and say we’re going to teach about the Nakba.”

This is yet another absurd false equivalency. It suggests that Holocaust education and “Nakba” education are morally equal and deserve identical treatment. This fails to recognize that the Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored genocide of six million Jews, while “Nakba” refers to an Arab-led invasion of Israel which failed, and produced refugees as a result.

This isn’t the first time Garcha has been caught out swapping her journalist hat for an anti-Israel activist one. In the past, she has amplified the claim that Israel is attempting to “exterminate” Gazans, and that Israel deliberately attacked a humanitarian zone in Gaza.

Ironically, Garcha concluded her report by saying that “history must be taught if healing and justice are ever to follow.”

This is undeniably true. But teaching one-sided “Nakba” narratives focused on Israeli persecution and Palestinian victimhood can never lead to healing or justice. Just as one-sided news reports, lacking any counterpoint or dissenting voices, can only ever serve to misinform and mislead Global News viewers.