In coverage of recent hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians, CBC The National aired a report by former Mideast reporter Saša Petricic who described thousands of Israelis celebrating Jerusalem Day festivities as “extremists.”

Watch the report by clicking here or below:

Petricic stated the following:

Later today, Jerusalem’s Old City was jammed with extremist right-wing Israelis celebrating Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, equally furious and defiant.”

CBC showed video of what looks like several thousand Israelis in revelry. Contrary to Mr. Petricic’s reporting, Jerusalem Day is an Israeli national holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in the aftermath of the June 1967 Six-Day War.

Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people where Jews have lived for over 3,000 years.

HonestReporting Canada has filed a complaint with CBC News and asked on what basis can the CBC cast these several thousand Israelis as “extremists”? Furthermore, these people were not “celebrating Israel’s occupation of the West Bank,” they celebrated Israeli control of Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal and undivided capital.

It’s one thing to refer to the Israelis as “nationalists” and quite another to describe them all as “extremists”.

We await the CBC’s response to our concerns. Stay tuned to this page for future updates.