Canadian investigative journalist Terry Glavin recently reported on an odious story that British Columbia Muslim newspaper Al-Ameen Post had carried, which “reported” on an alleged Israeli conspiracy to kidnap 25,000 Ukrainian children in order to harvest their organs. The report was entitled “Ukrainian kids, new victims of Israeli organ theft.”
Glavin aptly noted that this report was “reprinted faithfully and accurately from that holocaust-denying international scab operation known as Press TV, which is the house journal of the Khomeinist tyranny in Iran.” Press TV had reported these outrageous allegations as if they were fact and Al-Ameen had simply republished this report without doing any rudimentary fact checks. Quality control issues aside, such ludicrous accusations should have sounded off alarms for even the novice editors at Al-Ameen. The report certainly shouldn’t have been published considering the unsubstantiated nature of the accusations, along with the especially problematic backgrounds of its authors.
HonestReporting.com and HR UK have consistently pointed out that Press TV, the Iranian government funded mouthpiece of the brutal regime, has an agenda to spread hate and incitement. Numerous Press TV broadcasts have promoted an obsessively anti-Zionist agenda far beyond any pretence of impartiality, while Press TV’s website continues to host Holocaust denial.
To recall, Press TV is the same news service that published Nicholas Kollerstrom’s outrageous piece of Holocaust denial, The Walls of Auschwitz: A Review of the Chemical Studies and frequently features Lady Michelle Renouf, a neo-Nazi and supporter of Holocaust denier David Irving. Press TV also came under Ofcom’s spotlight following a complaint that it had breached its duty to be impartial and accurate in covering the Iranian regime’s attempts to crush dissent following the recent elections. Ofcom is an independent organization which regulates the UK’s broadcasting. Meanwhile, just this week, Press TV shockingly claimed that the infamous Neda Soltan video footage was staged.
With respect to this Al-Ameen report, B’nai Brith Canada promptly and commendably condemned it as a “blood libel,” while the B.C. Muslim Association called the article “racist and anti-Jewish.”
The National Post, Vancouver Province, and Calgary Herald, all covered the conflagration. B’nai Brith Canada noted that the Al-Ameen posting was a “hideous blood libel against the Jewish community and has no place in Canada or anywhere else.”
With regards to the source of the story, Press TV, Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B’nai Brith, said that it’s “the official mouthpiece of the terrorist-sponsoring Iranian regime.”
Subsequent to B’nai Brith’s complaint, Al-Ameen removed the article online (see image below), publically apologized for the article, and retracted the report.
According to the apology: “in the spirit of honouring our most cherished Canadian Values, and to demonstrate our commitment to upholding and defending such values, the Editorial Board of alAmeen Post, without prejudice, extends its honest and sincere apology to our fellow Jewish Canadians for any hurt which may have caused by us publishing or communicating such a news article.”
Read the full apology on Al-Ameen’s website entitled “To Our Fellow Jewish Canadians – Our Apologies” by clicking here.
Al-Ameen’s apology went on to state that it doesn’t “have the resources nor the means to have field reporters or investigative journalist working in the field… We do incorporate news from various regions of the world, for our audience, which we obtain from third parties. However, we remain very cautious about the news, which we do publish, and with our limited resources, we try our best that the news which we do publish is credible.”
While Al-Ameen would like to pass the buck in saying that they don’t “have the resources” to do simple fact checking, Al-Ameen could not have been ignorant of Press TV’s nefarious agenda. The simple fact that they were prepared to rely on Press TV as a source in the first place is problematic irrespective of whether or not they bothered to check the story.
Al-Ameen shouldn’t have cooperated and conferred any credibility on the Iranian regime’s propaganda tool, nor should any Canadian or international media outlet in the future.
How You Can Make A Difference:
Call on Al-Ameen’s Managing Editor, Jafar Bhamji, to discontinue using Press TV as a third party source. Furthermore, ask Mr. Bhamji to describe in writing what steps the Al-Ameen Post will take to ensure that incidents like this don’t happen again.
Please send polite, moderate, and non-accusatory letters to Mr. Bhamji at: [email protected]
This communique was adapted from HonestReporting Canada. Click on the image below to find out more and subscribe.
