In this episode of Palestine Debrief, I speak with Dr. Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, a renowned scholar, filmmaker, and author whose work focuses on the intersections of colonialism, photography, and historical narratives. Ariella was born in Israel but rejects the Israeli identity, where she identifies as a Muslim Jew. The refers to Israel as The Zionist Settler colony during the episode.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is shocked and upset by Canada’s decision to abstain on Norway’s resolution at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which requested the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to render an urgent advisory opinion on Israel’s starvation policies in Gaza. The resolution, which was adopted this afternoon by a vote of 137 to 12, requests an ICJ opinion on Israel’s obligations as an occupying power and UN member to facilitate humanitarian access in Gaza. CJPME is incensed that Canada has failed to hold Israel accountable for its genocidal policies of starvation.
“For decades, Canada has opposed or abstained on all attempts to use the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or International Criminal Court (ICC) as an avenue for justice in Palestine. Canada has repeatedly rejected the right of Palestinians to access mechanisms of international law, upholding Israeli impunity. Today’s abstention continues that shameful legacy,” said Michael Bueckert, Vice President of CJPME.
Norway’s resolution asked the ICJ for an opinion on “the obligations of Israel, as an occupying Power and as a member of the United Nations […] to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population as well as of basic services and humanitarian and development assistance[.]” The resolution is an urgent response to Israel’s latest legislative measures which threaten to dismantle UNRWA, often described as the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza. Earlier today, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report concluding that Israel’s deprivation of water to Gaza’s civilian population is an “act of genocide,” following similar conclusions from Amnesty International.
Prior to today’s vote, Canada has taken a more justice-oriented approach in voting on UN resolutions related to Palestine-Israel this year. Whereas since 2011 Canada has been voting “No” on nearly every resolution related to Palestinian human rights, this year Canada has finally shifted in approach by voting “Yes” on a majority of relevant resolutions. “Canada’s renewed support for most resolutions on Palestinian human rights at the UN has been a welcome and long-overdue shift. Regrettably, when it came to the resolution for an ICJ opinion – an initiative with actual teeth to hold Israel accountable – Canada simply folded. This exposes the limits of Trudeau’s supposed change of heart,” Bueckert added. (more...)
Canada’s Abstention on Norway’s UN Motion is Disgraceful
Over the last week, Zionist forces have intensified their besiegement and bombing of North Gaza, and cracked down on the West Bank with extreme violence. The treacherous Palestinian Authority has also increased its targeting of resistance fighters and civilians in Jenin and across cities in the West Bank.
While much of the world prepares for the holiday season, our people in Gaza enter month 15 of a brutal genocide: a genocide that Canada continues to arm and fund. Canadian media institutions have, for the last 15 months, continued to misinform the public, and manufacture consent for Canadian complicity.
This December 21st, we will march in support of the people of Palestine: from Jabalia to Jenin, to affirm that there will be no Christmas as usual while Canada remains complicit in this genocide!
📍Front St. & Bay St., Toronto
🗓️ Saturday, December 21st
⏰ 2 PM
Israel is shutting its embassy in Ireland accusing the government of 'anti-Israel' policies.
Dublin has strongly opposed the war on Gaza and recognised a Palestinian state.
It rejects Israel's accusations and says it stands for human rights and international law.
So, what's behind Israel's move and why now?
Presenter: Dareen Abughaida
Guests:
Nurse Karin Huster has been to Gaza with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) three times since the start of the current war, spending more than five months there in total. Here, she shares some of her most heart-wrenching experiences.
#BoycottTEVA #NoTEVA #SayNoToTEVA #NoHealthInOccupation #BDS #Boycott #EndTheOccupation #FreePalestine
Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces are violently suppressing those opposing Israel’s holocaust in Gaza. Most Canadians are unaware that our country assists them.
In recent days Palestinians in occupied Jenin have set up barricades and called a general strike to denounce PA repression. They were responding to PA security forces killing a child named Muhammad Imad al-Amer and 19-year-old Ribhi Muhammad al-Shalabi as part of an operation to dislodge resistance groups in Jenin. PA forces also killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Yazid Jaaysah.
After funneling over $20 billion in arms to assist Israel’s holocaust in Gaza, the Biden administration is pressing the far-right Israeli government to approve a shipment of US equipment to PA security forces so they can better repress resistance in Jenin and elsewhere.
Over the past 14 months of slaughter in Gaza PA forces have repeatedly suppressed opposition to Israel’s occupation. They’ve detained hundreds and killed at least 13 in their bid to maintain power and suppress resistance to Israel. The PA wants to demonstrate to the US and Israel that it’s capable of ‘running’ its sliver of the West Bank so it can be granted the right to rule Gaza. (more...)
Canada ‘aids’ Palestine by training PA police to repress resistance
Rev. Munther Isaac, the pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and the Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour, joins host Chris Hedges on this special episode of The Chris Hedges Report to revisit the story of Christmas and how it relates to Palestine then and now.
Consensus grows as US human rights organisation follows Amnesty in finding that Israel is committing genocide
Israel is guilty of the crime of extermination and acts of genocide in Gaza, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has concluded in a new report published on Thursday.
The US-based human rights organisation found that Israel has inflicted conditions of life in Gaza calculated to destroy the enclave's Palestinian population. This amounts to extermination, which is a crime against humanity, and acts of genocide.
Coming two weeks after fellow rights group Amnesty International similarly concluded that Israel is guilty of genocide, the Human Rights Watch report is the latest sign of a growing consensus around Israel's actions in Gaza.
In November, the International Crimincal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of a range of war crimes and crimes against humanity over atrocities committed after Israel's war on Gaza began following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023.
On 14 November, days before the ICC issued its arrest warrants, a United Nations special committee report accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and of prosecuting policies and practices in Gaza that may amount to a "possibility of genocide".
South Africa has brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), filing 750 pages of evidence of acts of genocide and genocidal intent in October. The ICJ has issued several emergency orders mandating Israel to refrain from actions that may amount to genocide.
In its new 179-page report, HRW said that Israel was following a “calculated policy” of depriving Palestinians of water and that this is one of the ways in which Israel is responsible for acts of genocide. (more...)
Human Rights Watch: Israel is guilty of extermination and acts of genocide in Gaza
Israel, the most hated country in the world, has decided to pick a fight with the most loved, Ireland.
Young protesters face more than a year in prison before going on trial over a break-in at an Israeli arms factory near Bristol.
Clare Rogers found out that her 21-year-old daughter Zoe had been arrested when police knocked on her door in the early hours of the morning this August.
“It’s been absolutely horrific, I don’t even know where to start,” Clare told Declassified. Zoe, a pro-Palestine activist, “was interrogated for seven days without charge, often in the middle of the night in a windowless cell.”
Clare was unable to speak to Zoe during this period, but later found out her cell “was lit by a strip light and every hour a guard would come up to the door and loudly open the hatch, meaning she wouldn’t sleep.”
Zoe has not been released and is among 18 members of the campaign group Palestine Action denied bail and held on remand.
They are accused of breaking into a factory owned by Israel’s largest arms company, Elbit Systems. (more...)
‘They’re Political Prisoners’: Parents of Palestine Activists Slam Pre-trial Detention
#BoycottTEVA #NoTEVA #SayNoToTEVA #NoHealthInOccupation #BDS #Boycott #EndTheOccupation #FreePalestine
The first time I saw a McDonald’s was during my first week in Egypt, back in February 2024. The familiar logo stood out, but what caught my eye was the Palestinian flag hanging by the door.
The McDonald’s logo and the Palestinian flag, in my mind, did not belong side by side, as the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) had advocated for a boycott of the American chain.
In October 2023, McDonald’s Israel offered free meals to Israeli soldiers, and a picture later surfaced of a McDonald’s paper bag, a rifle lying next to it, inside an Israeli tank in Gaza.
I walked closer to the restaurant out of curiosity and looked inside. There were no customers, just empty tables.
I told myself that the restaurant was empty because of the boycott, even though I could not know for sure. Still, it felt good to feel that there was a sense of solidarity and support for our shared struggle in Palestine. Yet, then again, maybe this McDonald’s in Mansoura, where I was now living, was just not a popular location.
As months went by, I kept an eye on this McDonald’s, and I noticed that it was not always empty.
Even when McDonald’s admitted that its international sales had slumped, this particular location in Mansoura, about two hours north of Cairo, seemed to be attracting at least some Egyptians.
This was troubling to me. I had been forcibly displaced from Gaza by the Israeli genocide, but it seemed that life outside of Gaza carried on, with little thought for the boycott. (more...)
Boycotting McDonald’s in Egypt
West Jerusalem has accused Ireland of “crossing every red line” in its stance on the war in Gaza
Israel has announced the closure of its embassy in Ireland, citing the alleged “extreme” policies towards the Jewish state, including accusations of committing genocide of Palestinians.
The decision to shut down the mission “was made in light of the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
“The actions and anti-Semitic rhetoric used by Ireland against Israel are rooted in the delegitimization and demonization of the Jewish state, along with double standards,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said. “Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel.”
“Israel will invest its resources in advancing bilateral relations with countries worldwide according to priorities that also take into account the attitudes and actions of these states toward Israel,” Saar added.
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said he was “deeply disappointed” by Israel’s decision. “Keeping channels open has never been more important so that we can better understand each other’s positions, even when we disagree.”
Harris denied that Ireland is anti-Israel. “Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law,” he said. (more...)
Israel shuts down embassy in EU country
Chrystia Freeland said the country must keep its “fiscal powder dry” for a potential tariff war with the US
Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, resigned from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet on Monday, citing policy disagreements and growing concerns over his economic direction. Her resignation comes in the wake of new controversy surrounding her family’s past, particularly her grandfather’s ties to Nazi collaboration in Ukraine.
Freeland, who has served in top roles within Trudeau’s Liberal government since 2013, delivered a critical resignation letter accusing the prime minister of prioritizing “costly political gimmicks” over prudent fiscal management amid looming US tariff threats. She specifically opposed Trudeau’s proposed sales tax holiday and $175 direct payments to Canadians, calling them unaffordable.
“We need to take [U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s] tariff threats seriously,” Freeland wrote. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry… and avoiding wasteful spending that undermines Canadians’ trust in our leadership.”
Trudeau quickly appointed longtime ally Dominic LeBlanc, then public safety minister, as Freeland’s replacement. He was sworn in the same day and vowed to tackle inflation and ease strained U.S.-Canada relations.
However, Freeland’s departure has reignited scrutiny of her family’s wartime past. Her maternal grandfather, Michael Chomiak, edited a Nazi-controlled Ukrainian newspaper that disseminated anti-Semitic propaganda during World War II. Despite public records confirming his role, Freeland long dismissed the reports as Russian disinformation. (more...)
Ukrainian Nazi-grandad scandal Canadian finance minister quits
#BoycottTEVA #NoTEVA #SayNoToTEVA #NoHealthInOccupation #BDS #Boycott #EndTheOccupation #FreePalestine
In June 2024, I attended the annual Canadian Political Science Association in Montreal. At that time, many students at McGill University – as well as community members – had set up an encampment on campus to advocate against the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
At first glance, the encampment consisted of an array of beige tents within a fenced area. Upon looking deeper, though, I noticed that it was also filled with art, important messages denouncing genocide and supporting the Palestinian people, and community members engaged in meaningful conversations.
As a fellow student visiting from New Brunswick, I went over to talk with them and offered to help make posters. They were really welcoming. As I was making posters, a man approached me and asked: “What about Hamas?” I quickly recognized an aggressive undertone to his words that was quite off-putting.
I tried to answer him as best as I could, but he became increasingly hostile. Without even listening to me or engaging with my explanations, he simply continued to repeat his question. Fortunately, one of the community members inside the encampment noticed this interaction and simply told the man to “have a nice day.” However, he continued to insist on this point, claiming that Israel deserved to retaliate because of what Hamas did on October 7. He was told to “have a nice day” again and, after some hesitation, he finally left. The people in the encampment then told me that they are not trying to argue with the public, but instead want to have meaningful and educational conversations.
This instance made me realize that I have heard that same question asked by many different people. And like my interlocutor in Montreal, those posing the question often seem to be invoking Hamas to nullify any opposition to the genocide of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli government and military. Indeed, some even bring up Hamas as a way to justify the atrocities we are all witnessing. (more...)
Let’s not use Hamas as a means to justify genocide
“I thought I was going to die,” Adam Melanson says about his Dec. 2023 arrest. Multiple officers pinned him to the ground, punched him repeatedly, and one used the banned “knee-on-neck” restraint. A year later, his charges of assaulting and obstructing a police officer were fully withdrawn after coming to an agreement with crown prosecutors. This is part of a larger pattern, argues Dalia Awwad.
I will be speaking about Adam’s arrest in the context of the broader Palestine movement in Toronto and how this was not an isolated incident but part of broader police trends and tactics employed against pro-Palestine protesters for over a year now, in an attempt to suppress dissent.
Since the beginning of Israel’s genocide, it appears the Toronto Police Service’s (TPS) role has been to criminalize, vilify, surveil, and brutalize the masses showing up in solidarity with Palestine. The harm the state is trying to inflict through TPS is multifaceted, physically through beatings, psychologically through surveillance and harassment, and materially through doxxing and criminalization.
Adam’s arrest was a moment when community members in attendance managed to document the brutality of TPS and their use of the knee-on-the-neck restraint. TPS went on to lie to the media and stated that they did no such thing despite the video evidence circulating. This would not be the first or last time they used this tactic against protesters. In January the knee-to-the-neck restraint was employed again against a different pro-Palestine protester at Avenue Road, according to the arrestee and witnesses.
Sadly, Adam’s assault is the tip of the iceberg of police violence, harassment and intimidation that we have experienced over the last year. (more...)
100 Arrests. Another dropped charge. What this tells us about policing the Palestine movement
In the wake of ultra-extremist militants Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seizing Damascus, Zionist entity premier Benjamin Netanyahu gave a smug address from the Golan Heights, Syrian territory illegally occupied ever since 1967. Along the way, he took personal credit for the fall of Bashar Assad’s government and the Syrian Arab Army’s defeat, while pledging the ground on which he stood would be part of Israel “for eternity”. Ever since, Israeli Occupation Forces have pushed ever-deeper into Golan, unimpeded and unopposed.
Tel Aviv’s criminal seizure of yet further territory from its neighbours was an absolutely inevitable upshot of Syria’s collapse. However, some Western journalists and politicians have expressed dismay - in many cases, the same figures were cheering Assad’s fall just 24 hours prior. Consternation has also widely abounded over the foreign-dominated and controlled opposition groups that overran Damascus effusively praising the Zionist entity’s assistance in their offensive against the SAA.
Speaking to Israeli TV on December 2nd, one rebel fighter thanked Tel Aviv for striking Hezbollah and other Resistance groups, stating the opposition was “very satisfied” with the support. They added:
“We love Israel and we were never its enemies…[Tel Aviv] isn’t hostile to those who are not hostile toward it. We don’t hate you, we love you very much.” (more...)
Israel's Support for Syrian Opposition Exposed
In this episode of The Underground, Michael J. Matt discusses Iraq 2.0 in Syria. The talking heads tell us that Syria is free at last, while Senator Rand Paul and Colonel Douglas McGregor express concern for Syrian Christian persecution rising. So, which is it? What's happening in Syria, who's behind it, and what's it have to do with Israel's march on Iran? And by the way, why did one of Syria's Catholic bishop scold Europe and the US for letting Syria fall into the hands of terrorists?
Are we looking at World War III in the Holy Land at Christmastime?
Finally, guess what? Traditional Catholic veterans of the Chartres Pilgrimage helped restore Notre Dame! What's it all mean, and why are so many critics missing the point?
In today's show, we'll be looking at the implications of Syria falling into the hands of NATO-backed militias, which include former ISIS and al-Qaeda fighters, who've perpetrated unspeakable atrocities.
Our first report sets out who's behind these militias, and who stands to gain from the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Our second report considers the role played by Israel, the United State and Turkey, and also looks at the surprisingly celebratory tone adopted in certain quarters where the geopolitical significance of these events haven't yet been grasped.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Madame Freeland.
Chrystia Freeland’s resignation from cabinet is a small win for all those who wish Canada would take a more independent foreign policy and not simply toady to the Americans.
A year after becoming prime minister, Justin Trudeau replaced foreign affairs minister Stéphane Dion, who represented a less pro-military and Washington faction of the Canadian elite, with Freeland. When she became foreign minister, the US embassy in Ottawa sent a memo to the State Department in Washington entitled “Canada Adopts ‘America First’ Foreign Policy.” Uncovered through a freedom of information request by Jay Watts, the largely redacted cable concluded that Trudeau promoted Freeland “in large part because of her strong U.S. contacts” and that her “number one priority” was working closely with Washington.
Coordinating the bid to overthrow Venezuela’s government was the highest profile example of Freeland’s “America First” policy. In 2020 Venezuelan foreign affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza pointed out that the Trudeau government’s Venezuela policy took a sharply belligerent turn after Freeland replaced Dion in January 2017. Freeland helped establish the Lima Group and participated in a half dozen meetings of the anti-Venezuelan government coalition. As the Globe and Mail reported, “Freeland spoke with Juan Guaidó to congratulate him on unifying opposition forces in Venezuela, two weeks before he declared himself interim president” in January 2019.
As part of her pro-Washington policy in the Hemisphere, Freeland also supported the ouster of Bolivia’s first indigenous president. Hours after the military command forced Evo Morales to resign on November 10, 2019, Freeland released a celebratory statement declaring, “Canada stands with Bolivia and the democratic will of its people.”
Ottawa provided significant support for the Organization of American States’ effort to discredit Bolivia’s 2019 vote, which fueled opposition protests and justified the coup. “Canada commends the invaluable work of the OAS audit mission in ensuring a fair and transparent process, which we supported financially and through our expertise”, noted Freeland at the time. But the OAS audit mission was designed to precipitate Morales ouster. A slew of studies demonstrated the partisan nature of the OAS audit mission and a year later Morales’ former finance minister, Luis Acre, won 55% of the vote for president and his MAS party took a large majority in the Congress. (more...)
Is Freeland’s exit a sign of a turn away from Washington?
After the Second World War thousands of ethnic Germans came to Canada, aided by faith groups who helped steer government resettlement programs. There was little background screening, poor security checks and an anti-Semitic bias. The Waterloo Region Record’s Terry Pender documents how this led to Nazi war criminals quietly settling parts of Canada, including Waterloo Region.
An unknown number of Nazi war criminals and collaborators lived out their lives in peace in Canada, in places such as the Mennonite farms and villages of Waterloo Region.
They were among thousands of ethnic Germans brought into Canada after the Second World War — many of them members of the most reprehensible units of the Nazi war machine — by a group called the Canadian Christian Council for the Resettlement of Refugees (CCCRR), which included the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
How this happened is detailed in a Government of Canada report, “Nazi War Criminals in Canada: The Historical And Policy Setting From the 1940s to the Present.” Known as The Rodal Report, it is a 600-page study prepared by Oxford-trained historian Alti Rodal for the Deschênes Commission on Nazi War Criminals in Canada, which released its findings in 1986.
For decades, Ottawa refused to release the entirety of the Rodal report. The Waterloo Region Record filed an Access to Information request for a complete copy six years ago.
The Deschênes Commission said there were 29 cases of suspected Nazi war criminals in Canada that warranted special consideration because of the seriousness of the allegations and the availability of evidence against the men.
Among those priority cases was Waterloo resident Helmut Oberlander. The Record filed an Access to information Act request for the files on the other 28 cases, but Library and Archives Canada has refused to release any of the documents. (more...)
Bending the rules: How Canada opened its doors to Nazi war criminals
Related:
We speak to legendary Pink Floyd Frontman Roger Waters. He discusses the fall of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, the horrific events in the Middle East being machinations of a dying Western empire with the mask now off, how the Gaza genocide shows the hypocrisy of the US, UK and European governments when it comes to human rights and international law, Sir Keir Starmer’s UK government’s role in the Gaza genocide and the shame he feels to being English while the genocide continues, where he finds optimism for an ‘existential battle’ for the soul of the human race, how the US deposed Assad by stealing Syria’s oil and sanctioning the Syrian economy to the point where ‘the government never had a chance’, his release of the emails between him and Tom York of Radiohead asking him to join the BDS movement and not perform in Israel, the impact of his childhood and upbringing on his politics and his opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the few brave Israelis that speak out against the Israeli government, and much more.
"I can no longer ethically or morally consent to use my labor in any way that supports an institution that is explicitly manufacturing consent for the unrestrained, illegal, 'apocalyptic' ongoing series of 'calculated' genocides to destroy Palestine"
Professor Rochelle McLaughlin sent the following letter to the leadership of San Jose State University on December 5, 2024. McLaughlin has been a professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy since 2004.
Dear, CSU Board of Trustees, Mildred Garcia, Cynthia Teniente-Matson, Jennifer Malutta, Mari Fuentes-Martin, Patience Bryant, Jahmal Williams, Kristin Dukes, Jon Tucker, Mai Ma Cantos, Nnenna Abaeze, Vincent Del Casino, Ro Khanna, Zoe Lofgren, Ash Kalra, Alex Lee, Evan Low, Cindy Chavez, Omar Torres, Matt Mahan, Dr. Shillington, Dr. Masucci, Dr. Knepper, Dr. Smith, OT Department faculty, staff, and students,
Please accept this as my letter of resignation from SJSU effective December 20, 2024. I have been teaching here for the past 20 years and I can no longer ethically or morally consent to use my labor in any way that supports an institution that is explicitly manufacturing consent for the unrestrained, illegal, “apocalyptic” ongoing series of “calculated” genocides to destroy the people of Palestine. I believe that neither our tax dollars nor students’ tuition ought to be funding genocides. Over the last 14 months, SJSU students and faculty along with our local community have been trying to hold up a moral and ethical compass for our university to stand up for humanitarian law, to speak up against killing innocent people, and to disclose and divest from war and weapons. During this time, I have felt deeply saddened, pained, and disappointed in witnessing the university’s response in repressing and silencing repeated pleas from our faculty, students, and community to end SJSU’s complicity and material support of the military-industrial complex and the Zionist occupation of Indigenous land (Refer to ADDENDUM).
As an alumna of SJSU and a faculty member of 20 years, I embraced and aligned with SJSU’s vision of being “an intellectual environment in which hands-on, transformational learning experiences help students, faculty, and staff collaboratively address complex issues in global communities.” This historic anti-genocide and pro-Palestinian global student movement, where our very own SJSU students and faculty have been putting their bodies and careers on the line, upholds and fulfills this very promise. I am shocked and outraged by my university’s restrictive and punitive response to our community’s urgent public outcry for human empathy, understanding, integrity, and accountability. The hypocrisy in SJSU’s mission statement proclaiming to “nurture leaders to thrive and transform our community…and the world” while simultaneously punishing them for doing exactly that is abundantly clear. The hypocrisy in SJSU having a massive anti-apartheid statue in the heart of campus, presenting itself as a university at the epicenter of justice and equity, while simultaneously suspending and wrongfully maligning Dr. Sang Hea Kil, a Justice Studies professor, and Faculty Advisor for Students for Justice in Palestine will be remembered by historical records forever. (more...)
Lee Mordechai says Israel’s war has been “enabled and facilitated by massive media efforts to shape discourse” in the West
On December 5, 2024, Israeli historian Lee Mordechai released a 124-page report titled “Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War,” which the Israeli newspaper Haaretz called “the most methodical and detailed documentation in Hebrew… of the war crimes that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza.”
The report contains 1,400 footnotes including “eyewitness reports, video footage, articles, photographs, eyewitness evidence and [other] investigatory material, much of it recorded by Israeli soldiers.” After combing through this vast library of documentation, Mordechai, an associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a former fellow at Princeton University, concluded: “The enormous amount of evidence I have seen… has been enough for me to believe that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza.”
On the day of the report’s release, Amnesty International also concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
One section in Mordechai’s report, titled “The media, propaganda, and the war,” draws attention to the role of Canadian media in enabling Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. “Following a pattern from earlier wars in Gaza,” Mordechai writes, “the current war has been enabled and facilitated by massive media efforts to shape discourse in Israel as well as in the West—in countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.”
Mordechai draws attention to the CBC, specifically an anonymous essay by a former CBC producer published by The Breach earlier this year. As Mordechai explains:
A former media worker in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recounted how any reporting on Palestine faced major difficulties, including the cancellation of interviews, allowing the repetition of verifiably false pro-Israel claims on air, refusing to have discussions about difficult issues from Israel’s perspective (e.g. whether a genocide might be happening), not providing key context to current events (e.g. the situation pre-Oct. 7), editing out controversial material (e.g. references to genocide and starvation), adding disclaimers about the un-verifiable nature of even personal statements (e.g. the deaths of interviewees’ extended family members), removal of names and contact information of Palestinian speakers from internal databases, and ignoring genocidal statements by Israeli officials. (more...)
Israeli historian accuses Canadian media of enabling Gaza war crimes
1/ I am an historian and Israeli citizen. Over the past year I have been writing publicly about events in Gaza during the war, while collecting and documenting thousands of pieces of evidence and dozens of reports.
— Lee Mordechai (@LeeMordechai) December 5, 2024
