There are nearly 3,000 licensed physicians in Saskatchewan, and when a group representing 0.7 percent of them voted to divest from Scotiabank in a misdirected attempt to weaken Israel, it garnered predictable and sympathetic news coverage from two local outlets.
In the June 27 episode of The 306, a CBC radio program typically hosted by Peter Mills, the guest host spoke with Kieren Conway, an anti-Israel activist in Regina, who helped with a campaign to divest investment capital from a group of doctors away from Scotiabank, under the mistaken impression that the bank holds shares in an Israeli weapons manufacturer.
Listen to the full segment below:
Over the course of a six-minute interview, Conway twice uttered the slanderous “genocide” falsehood against Israel and sought to frame himself as somewhat of a martyr, saying that “over the course of this genocide, folks who criticize Israel for its war crimes do face backlash in an attempt to silence criticism.”
What Conway misunderstands (or perhaps does understand, but deliberately misrepresents) is that criticism of Israel is entirely valid. But spreading hateful lies, such as the “genocide” slur, is not “criticism,” but a drive-by attack on fact, reason, truth and indeed, even honesty.
Tragically, at no point during the interview was Conway challenged on this point by the host, nor were listeners reminded that no judicial body has found Israel guilty of genocide, and that military experts and Israel itself vociferously deny those unfounded charges.
While the host failed to challenge Conway, she did note at the end of the segment that Scotiabank doesn’t even own any shares of Elbit, the Israeli manufacturer in question, but rather independently managed funds do on behalf of clients, yet another fact that Conway and his ilk apparently do not understand.
The Regina Leader-Post, meanwhile, published an article reporting on this effort of 21 doctors to demonize Israel. The article entitled: “Regina doctors vote to remove money from banks investing in Israeli arms industry,” written by Alec Salloum, was given front-page coverage on July 2.
In the article, Conway repeated his vile demonization of Israel, accusing Jerusalem of trying “to exterminate life in Gaza.”
Any reasonable observer would note that Israel is doing no such thing at all, given that Gaza’s population continues to grow. While it might be apparent that Conway would have no interest in sharing such details, given that they directly conflict with his apparently radical anti-Israel worldview, by omitting any relevant details, and allowing Conway’s extremist statement to stand without any context or challenge, Salloum allowed this blatant disinformation to be presented as credible.
Conway accused Israel of “genocide” in the article, and Salloum not only did not provide any opposing evidence to this scandalous allegation, he quoted a “United Nations special committee” which made that accusation, offering zero semblance of balance.
The “special committee” he referred to is a group of three people – ambassadors from Senegal, Malaysia and Sri Lanka to the United Nations – whose group, “The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories,” specifically castigate Israel.
But rather than quoting actual experts, the newspaper has decided otherwise. By amplifying the fringe voices of 21 doctors out of nearly 3,000, and failing to challenge baseless accusations like “genocide,” both CBC and the Regina Leader-Post irresponsibly lent credibility to disinformation.
