Even by CBC standards, the Vancouver-based radio program The Early Edition, hosted by Stephen Quinn, has been arguably one of the most relentless in its propagation of anti-Israel talking points for many months.

The program frequently invites guests to opine on the Hamas-Israel war, with virtually all of them expressing strident views hostile to Israel, and Quinn, for his part, typically offering little in the way of meaningful challenge to his guests.

On May 15, Quinn spoke with Deirdre Nunan, a Saskatchewan physician who worked in a Gaza hospital the previous month. Even in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel, Nunan was vocal in her opposition to Israel, signing an open letter accusing Israel of “genocide” and demanding that it surrender to Hamas, even while making zero mention of the hundreds of hostages kidnapped.

Listen to the full segment below:

In her interview with Quinn, Nunan dismissed any suggestion that Palestinian terrorists were operating under Gaza hospitals, saying “I have never seen any military person in that hospital,” adding that even if there were terrorists there, “it is still not a legitimate target.”

While Nunan may not have seen anything it is impossible to know, given that Hamas’ repression is so severe that even if she had seen something, it is unlikely she would say as much publicly. There is plenty of evidence of Hamas’ use of civilian infrastructure for its terrorism.

As for Nunan’s statement that it is irrelevant whether Hamas is present or not in a location, she is strikingly wrong. When Palestinian terrorists use a civilian venue for warfare, it fundamentally becomes a military site. Despite this cynical practice by Hamas, Israel has taken wide-ranging steps to minimize civilian casualties.

Perhaps most comically, Nunan made the eyebrow-raising claim that “Gaza has been sealed off for close to 20 years now,” apparently unaware of the biting irony in her comment, given that she, a Canadian physician, has been able to come and go from the supposedly “sealed off” enclave.

Five days later on May 20, Quinn once again took on the Hamas-Israel conflict, discussing a statement from the Carney government which condemned Israel for its counter-terrorism operations against Hamas.

Listen to the full segment below:

But rather than speaking to a political scientist, an expert on international law, or a scholar of warfare – who could have spoken about the legality of Israel’s actions –  Quinn spoke with Daniel Tetrault, a councilor from the city of Burnaby, in suburban Vancouver. What makes Tetrault an expert on the Hamas-Israel war? Nothing, beyond him being an outspoken anti-Israel activist, which apparently for Quinn, is all that is needed to qualify him to be a guest. Quinn spoke with Tetrault in May, 2024, speaking about Israel, where the host claimed at the time that some politicians are intimidated by “people who are aligned with Israel.”

It was immediately clear to listeners that Tetrault was out of his depth commenting on such affairs, comparing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to Israel’s self-defensive war against a terrorist regime that had invaded it.

Tetrault jumped on a now-debunked claim by a United Nations official that 14,000 Gazan babies would die in 48 hours due to starvation, a remarkable allegation that was disavowed almost instantly, but which nevertheless gave an insight into how baseless anti-Israel libels spawn with no evidentiary support.

Quinn offered little to nothing in the way of challenge, at one point mentioning Israel’s position, and then apologetically saying “and I’m not trying to ‘two sides’ this.” In fact, near the end of the segment, Quinn stopped himself from criticizing both Hamas and Israel, before correcting himself, suggesting that Israel was solely to blame, when he said that “both sides, well not both sides, but Israel seems entrenched…”

If Hamas’ position – which clearly prioritizes the holding of 58 hostages over the well-being of its people – is not “entrenched,” then the word has lost all meaning. Yet for Quinn, it is ever Israel which is the villain.

Stephen Quinn’s two guests are entitled to their views, as absurd and dangerously ignorant as they may be. But that does not exempt Quinn nor CBC from offering listeners even a hint of balance, rather than platforming anti-Israel activists, one after another, even those with no relevant expertise whatsoever, seemingly for no other reason than to promote an extreme ideological agenda.