Mr. Jack Nagler
CBC Ombudsman
Dear Mr. Nagler;
It is quite unconscionable that the CBC hosts speakers who support terror against the state of Israel and the Jewish people. It is too rare, and not in my memory, that there is real balance in the reporting and it is disappointing.
Today, Matt Galloway, in his morning show, interviewed two anti-Israel campaigners, and one Israeli embassy representative, Eli Lipshitz, on the subject of protests in Israel by Israelis but quickly moved to allowing Diana Buttu to spew unchallenged lies and distortion of history. The context and differing perspectives on the internal political divisions was missing and the discussion became about the Palestinian generated conflict, but of course blamed Israel for any conflict. The portrayal of Israeli politicans was horribly biased.
Context was completely missing when Buttu spoke. And how is it that two to one is balance? How is it that Galloway is so ill prepared and uninformed? How is it that no one is held accountable for the continued antisemitic bias and the failure to do a deep dive into truth about the Palestinians’ decision to wage constant conflict against Israel? Clearly the situation is in continual conflict because after 70+ years the Palestinian Arabs refuse peace, lie about their own history, which is not indigenous to Israel, and refuse to accept any Jewish nation state. This is not a territorial conflict and has never been one. It is an existential conflict pursued by Arabs who have determined that they will never accept Israel, with any borders. The charters of the PA/PLO make that clear as does the charter of Hamas which confirms their intent to destroy all of Israel and kill the Jews.
The Arabs are constantly creating “facts” not telling truths, misrepresenting the situation such as Diana Buttu’s claim that many young Arabs were killed by Israelis, but never speaking about what led to any deaths. She was not even asked by Galloway what these Arabs were doing at the time, yet in every case they were killing or trying to kill Jews! She fell back on a much investigated death, that of a Palestinian Arab journalist whose death was determined to either be circumstantial, ie an accident or that it is possible she was killed by a bullet from an Arab protestor. There is no evidence that any Israeli intentionally killed her. This death has nothing at all to do with the current internal protests.
CBC should prepare a fact sheet with only historical and proven facts starting with the fact that Zionism is much older that the Holocaust and WWII. It was a national movement in the 1800s but is actually a concept as old as the Torah, the belief in a Jewish nation in the land of Judea and Samaria. The decision to reconstitute the Jewish homeland was confirmed in 1920 at the San Remo Conference, by the League of Nations in 1922, and is built into the UN’s irrefutable, immutable charter in 1945. The truth is that Jews are not occupiers but the indigenous people, that Arabs were colonizers who invaded the land and did nothing to develop it. Later more invaders came, and also did not develop the land. After WWI, the British were the colonial power that pushed out the invader Ottomans. Evidence of Jewish existence is vast and continues to be found on a very regular basis while there is zero archaeological evidence of a “Palestinian” ethnic presence.
The Jews did not decide to evict the Arabs; they wanted then and now to live in peace with the Arabs, the majority who came to the land when the Jews began to develop it and create opportunities in the late 1800s. International law recognizes Jewish rights. Calling Israel an apartheid state or an occupier which Buttu did, is pure political propaganda, intended to harm Israel, demonize the Jews and foment Jew hatred. Surely it is incumbent on all the news staff, on and off air, to learn such simple facts. Surely it is time for CBC to stop its incessant anti-Israel bias and recognize it all contributes to rising antisemitism in this country and abroad. It is always true that wars begin with words; that hatred can accelerate if elevated by media, celebrities like Galloway, and giving hatred a platform.
CBC should be guided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism. There is a definite need for your team to learn this. Ultimately, it is time to admit that antisemitism is on the rise and evidence is that you just might be contributing to it.
Regards,
Andria Spindel, Executive Director