Serial offender of journalistic ethics Neil Macdonaldwrites in Canada’s CBC News that Israel is an “apartheid state.”
Just one problem: it isn’t. Not by any accepted international standard nor by the dictionary definition.
So how does Macdonald come to this conclusion? By misrepresenting facts.
While a columnist is entitled to express an opinion (no matter how absurd it may be), changing facts, misquoting sources, and taking information out of context is never allowed, not even in an opinion piece.
Where is Macdonald’s support?
Littered with a litany of links, Macdonald’s article seems to have lots of support. Except that most of the links actually say the opposite of what he claims.
…with a long list of Israeli political leaders, academics and public figures … all of whom have warned that the Jewish state is becoming, or already is, an apartheid state.
Most of the people referenced specifically say that Israel is not an apartheid state.
To be precise, the cited individuals warn that Israel would be in danger of becoming an apartheid state if Israel were to adopt certain policies: policies which Israel has not adopted and most likely never will. Such is the nature of political debate in any free democracy: opposing politicians dramatically predict the consequences that would result from following one possible path to its theoretical conclusion.
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Scraping the bottom of the barrel
Macdonald’s only source claiming that Israel is already an apartheid state is a 2007 opinion piece in a small New Zealand based web site by Shulamit Aloni: a now deceased, former Israeli politician from the far left Meretz party. Though certainly a part of the national debate, the party is currently one of the smallest in Israel.
In a country of 8.5 Million people and free speech, you’ll find at least someone expressing every opinion imaginable. Yet Macdonald fails to come up with even one quote from the contemporary Israeli mainstream, or even from the current decade.
From this he makes his above conclusion, ” …all of whom have warned that the Jewish state is becoming, or already is, an apartheid state.”
HonestReporting explored the myth of Israeli apartheid in this video:
Israel is not a colony
In another of his long line of misrepresented “facts,” Macdonald claims:
Since the election of Donald Trump, colonization has surged with an invigorated enthusiasm.
Presumably he is referring to Israelis building homes in the West Bank, the region historically called Judea & Samaria – ironically, the same “Judea” which is the historic origin of the word “Jew.”
Whether or not to build Jewish homes in the West Bank is a topic of furious debate in Israeli society. Yet regardless of one’s opinion on the topic, there is no question that Jews have a history in the region, and that building homes, whether right or wrong, is in this case not accurately described as “colonization.” Indeed, most mainstream news outlets (including CBC itself) and national leaders (including those who oppose settlements) do not use the word.
Yet vocabulary aside, Macdonald also gets the basic facts wrong, citing to a source that (as usual) says effectively the opposite of what Macdonald claims. Here are the facts:
- Over the past decade the population of Israelis living in the West Bank has grown more slowly than at any time since 1967, a trend that has not changed since the election of the latest American president.
- Israel has not built a new West Bank settlement in 25 years.
- In order to accommodate the residents already evacuated from the town of Amona, the first new settlement in 25 years has received initial approval, but it has not yet received final approvals for actual building. Furthermore, when completed it will be tiny: containing 102 housing units, roughly the size of the smallest “truck stop” towns in America like Saint Donatus, Iowa or Marengo, Indiana.
This is the “invigorated enthusiasm” to which Macdonald refers.
Debate is not policy
Macdonald proceeds to quote dramatic statements from numerous Israeli politicians made in the heat of political debate. Not a single one of the quoted statements has resulted in actual law.
To put this in context, Macdonald’s “logic” would be like claiming that science has become illegal in the United States because congressman Paul Broun once said he does not believe in evolution. One congressman’s statement is not law, and the entire conclusion simply makes no logical sense.
Numerous errors
The laundry list of problems with Macdonald’s article are too many to mention individually. He misrepresents terror groups, statements by individuals, life-saving security measures and a litany of other topics, simply by twisting facts or eliminating context entirely.
A credibility problem
Neil Macdonald’s “casual relationship” with the truth is nothing new.
Honestreporting has exposed Macdonald’s bias, dishonesty and even outright hateful statements numerous times in the past, including :
- his misleading (and unsuccessful) attempt to stage a journalist boycott of Israel;
- an utterly surreal claim that Israel was responsible for the events at Abu Ghraib, the American administered prison in Iraq; and
- A completely nonsensical attempt to link Israel to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
CBC has already had to apologize for Macdonald’s embarrassing attempts at journalism, in one case admitting, “there is no evidence” for Macdonald’s claims.
All of which begs the question, why does CBC continue to give Neil Macdonald a forum?
Please share your considered comments with the CBC at this link.
