Syndicated columnist Gwynne Dyer has a long and well-documented history of publishing inflammatory, historically revisionist, and deeply biased commentary about Israel, and even sometimes conspiracy theories. His latest column entitled: “Where does Israel imagine starving Palestinians can go?” published on June 5 in The Hill Times and which was also published in the Chronicle Herald and The Telegram newspapers — was not a departure from that pattern. It is its culmination.

In this piece, Dyer crossed the line from biased journalism into something far more dangerous: the uncritical regurgitation of Hamas propaganda, served to readers under the pretence of humanitarian concern.

He wrote that the “Israel Defense Force (IDF) snipers and/or civilian American gunmen of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) pick off dozens of the starving Palestinians who show up at the food distribution points in southern Gaza almost every day.” Then, in a moment that defies belief, he (sarcastically?) added: “barely 100 of them were killed outright at the feeding stations in the whole first week.”

Leaving aside the disgusting and dehumanizing framing, there is no citation. No source. No verification. Just a casual assertion of atrocity, drawn—as always—from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, a known propaganda outlet for a designated terror organization. Apparently, if Hamas says it, he prints it. This is not journalism. It is the laundering of terror-group messaging through a polished, authoritative voice that too often escapes scrutiny.

Dyer ended his column with a grotesque hypothetical: that even if Israeli leaders managed to ethnically cleanse the population of Gaza, they would be guilty not of genocide, but merely of a “crime against humanity,” and—with “good behaviour”—could be out of prison in 10 or 20 years. Such flippancy betrays not only poor taste, but a deliberate effort to render Israeli self-defence indistinguishable from war crimes, while stripping the word genocide of all meaning.

Throughout the piece, Dyer omitted any real facts, relying instead on hypotheticals, supposition, and Hamas propaganda. No mention was made of the 1,200 Israelis slaughtered on October 7, 2023—the largest one-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. No mention of the 50+ hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. No discussion of the field hospitals, aid corridors, or daily IDF assessments conducted to facilitate humanitarian access. No recognition of Hamas’s repeated theft and reselling of aid, its documented use of human shields, or its long-standing tactic of embedding fighters in civilian infrastructure. And of course, no contextualizing that Hamas’ stated aim is a total Jewish genocide.

In other words, none of the context that might complicate Dyer’s narrative was permitted to appear.

Even as he cited Hamas-supplied casualty figures – “more than 100 Palestinians…killed near aid distribution points” – he neglected to ask why the international media continues to rely so heavily on Hamas-controlled sources. As the Jerusalem Post recently reported, the so-called “spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza”—widely quoted across Western media—has now been confirmed to be an actual Hamas agent. But such facts do not concern Dyer, because they would require acknowledging that the dominant narrative may be built on a foundation of lies.

The consequences of this approach are not theoretical. Just last week, The Washington Post quietly issued a correction to a piece claiming over 30 people had been killed near a Gaza aid site—based solely on unnamed “health officials.” Security footage from the distribution centre showed calm, orderly scenes, with aid delivered without disruption and no evidence of casualties. The GHF explicitly denied any incident occurred, attributing the false reports to Hamas disinformation. Likewise, the BBC ran with anonymous claims that “Israeli tanks” killed 26 at another site, only to later admit—through its own fact-checking unit—that it could not verify the allegations, some of which were based on visibly staged or recycled footage. Even after its internal unit debunked a key video, the BBC left the original accusation intact. There is extensive reporting on Hamas’ role in manipulating both statistics and international coverage, but this hasn’t stopped Gwynne Dyer from echoing the same talking points with no scrutiny.

This is the central problem. Dyer does not offer an analysis of a complex conflict. He offers a morality play—with Hamas as victim and Israel as villain—reliant entirely on unverified statistics and unexamined assumptions.

And this isn’t the first time. In his May 21 piece also in the Hill Times and The Telegram entitled: “Israel’s impossible dream,” Dyer casually accused Israel of “grabbing” land during its 1948 War of Independence—a gross mischaracterization that ignored the Arab League’s invasion and erased the legitimacy of Jewish self-determination. His language then, as now, was designed to provoke, not to inform.

Make no mistake: Gazans are suffering. But one cannot begin to address that suffering while ignoring Hamas’ central role in orchestrating and exacerbating the crisis. That requires exposing its tactics, scrutinizing its claims, and holding it accountable—not serving as its foreign press secretary.

In parroting Hamas narratives without evidence or caution, Dyer did not serve the cause of justice. He amplified the voice of the very group oppressing the people of Gaza. He substituted outrage for accuracy, and ideology for integrity.

The result is not journalism. It is propaganda. And it has no place in publications that claims to value fairness, nuance, or truth.