It looks like three student writers for Simon Fraser University’s student newspaper, The Peak, need to brush up in a very big way, on their knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, before offering their thoughts on the matter, as evidenced by the publication’s January 15 edition.

In one article entitled: “Undermining Palestinian solidarity does not help Jews on campus: Notes on antisemitism and state criticism,” author Omri Haiven wrote that he is “sickened to see the ongoing bombing and decimation of Gaza by Israel in the name of a so-called ‘Jewish homeland.’” 

That Gazans are suffering is not in dispute, but simply pointing to destruction in Gaza does not make Israel the guilty party. Most sane-minded people – including Israelis of all stripes – are sickened, too, that their neighbours in Gaza have to suffer, as a result of Hamas’ evils. But the war is not in the name of a Jewish homeland (so-called or not)– it is aimed at ensuring that Hamas, the genocidal Gaza-based Islamic terrorist group, cannot commit another massacre like it did on October 7.

As a supposed solution to the Hamas-Israel war, Haiven offered a suggestion when, making reference to the anti-Israel boycott movement, wrote that “BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions) is a necessary tool we must use to promote justice in Israel and Palestine and work toward peace in the region… It’s now time for our generation to boycott, divest, and sanction companies and institutions complicit in the violation of Palestinian human rights.”

Haiven did not mention any of those human rights by name, that Palestinians are being robbed of, but given that the overwhelming number of them are ruled either by the Fatah in the Palestinian Authority (PA), or once-ruled by Hamas in Gaza, he can speak to how these governments continuously violate democratic rights.

Regrettably, he did not; instead, his ire was focused entirely on Israel.

A second article entitled: “Truth and reconciliation goes beyond Canada,” written by Kelly Chia and an unnamed anonymous student, called on Canada to “make direct intervention” in Gaza and pressure Israel to cease its counter-terrorism operations in the Gaza Strip.

The writers argued that “we must contend with Canada’s historical role in colonizing Palestine, and our continual support of its occupation,” but failed to argue how exactly Canada relates to the Roman, Crusader, Ottoman or other colonizations of the Levant. More importantly, Israel, as the nation-state of the Jewish People, and reconstituted in their ancient homeland, represents a de-colonization of the area.

That being the case, what part would be “occupied,” given that one cannot illegally occupy their own land.

The pair continued by writing that “it’s important we confront our history to make changes in the present, as our silence is permission for genocide to continue.”

While the writers take their claim of genocide as a given, there is simply no reasonable evidence whatsoever to support that contention. In the face of Hamas, which actively hides its military infrastructure deeply within civilian areas, Israel is still taking unprecedented steps to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza.

And finally, the authors wrote: “Outrage grows at the nation’s silence in the face of over 20,000 civilian deaths since Israel escalated attacks on Palestine, and Canada remains complicit.”

While Hamas claims around 25,000 total deaths in Gaza, there is no independent verification of this allegation. Moreover, the only source of casualty data from Gaza is Hamas, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, nor between those killed in Israeli air strikes or by errant Palestinian rockets, a regular occurrence, but the pair opt not to share this critical detail with readers.

These two opinion columns in The Peak base their arguments on a combination of careful omissions, outright falsehoods and a mindless regurgitation of some of the most popular, though egregious, allegations made about Israel. SFU students deserve better from their campus paper of record.