This article is republished courtesy of HonestReporting Canada.
Lacking an official reprimand from his superiors at V Television and perhaps feeling emboldened, Mayor and Quebec TV show host Stéphane Gendron, in a December 27 broadcast of Face a Face, lamented that “unfortunately, Israel has not yet collapsed” and that Israel “does not deserve to exist”.
Here are his shocking comments in full:
I want to pay tribute to him (Amir Khadr) for his boycott of the boutique Le Marcheur on Saint Denis Street. ‘Palestinian and Jewish Unity’ led the boycott and Amir Khadr supported it. They boycotted the boutique Le Marcheur… There were boycotts of South Africa, there were ad campaigns saying ‘there is organized apartheid, we will stop buying products made in South Africa’. It was a long process, the regime collapsed.
Unfortunately, Israel has not yet collapsed but I support the boycott, and Amir Khadr had the courage to do so because products made ??in Israel on land stolen from the Palestinians that is walled in, in an apartheid regime where they are cut off, it’s very serious. And a country like that does not deserve to exist. Bravo, Amir Khadr.
To watch this clip online please click here or see below.
HR Canada previously alerted you to Gendron’s offensive comments where he shockingly claimed Israel indiscriminately murders innocent Palestinians with bulldozers. Gendron declared the following on the November 2 broadcast of Face à Face on V Television:
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, decided not to make further contributions to UNESCO, why? Because the U.S. decided to cut its funding, why? Because Palestine dared to be admitted to UNESCO. This is appalling! It is an affront to peace! Do you know what Israel did? In revenge for the admission of Palestine to UNESCO, they decided to build 2000 homes in areas that do not belong to them, the occupied territories, so they are going to bulldoze people, kill people, they will give them 5 minutes to get out and then they’ll run people down with bulldozers. And Canada supports this.
More than 150 HRC members responded to our call to action by registering complaints with V Television network. Furthermore, our YouTube clip of Gendron’s comments was viewed over 23,000 times. The National Post also weighed in, publishing an editorial entitled “Bulldozing the facts” that shone the spotlight on Gendron by declaring that his statements had constituted “a vicious libel”.
In response, V Television management issued the following weak and evasive reply to complainants: “In order to avoid repeating a similar occurrence in the future, we have reiterated the need for the program to adhere to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council’s guidelines“.
Instead of reprimanding Gendron for his inflammatory libel, V Television’s actions to merely “reiterate” guidelines to “production staff” didn’t even come off as a slap on the wrist for this habitual offender. As we noted in a follow-up media action alert, such actions do not in “any way constitute a satisfactory remedy for the libel and the resultant damage done. Without redress, Face à Face’s TV viewers may still be under the impression that Israel is planning to ‘bulldoze and kill people, giving them 5 minutes to leave before they run them down with bulldozers’, since no retraction or remedy has been offered by V.”
Setting aside Gendron’s disgraceful support for boycott campaigns against Israel and his ignorant charge that Israel practices “apartheid,” Gendron has now graduated to the ranks of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hamas’ senior leaders who publically hope for Israel’s demise.
While the opinions expressed on this program may be those of the host and may not necessarily reflect the views of the V network or its management, V is responsible for the information it broadcasts.
V continues to allow itself to be a platform for the dissemination of Gendron’s vicious libels and in this instance, his desire that Israel cease existence and collapse. Had V Television properly dealt with this situation in the first place, this matter would never have taken place. In failing to do so, V has tarnished its standing as a reputable television network.
Having already filed a complaint, we are currently seeking the assistance of the Canadian Broadcast Standard’s Council to rectify this situation in a manner befitting broadcast standards. We reiterate our call for a public apology from V Television and for Stéphane Gendron to be immediately terminated as TV host of Face à Face.
We encourage you to send letters to V Television to protest its employment of Stéphane Gendron as host. Please refer to Gendron’s December 27 declaration on Face à Face that Israel “does not deserve to exist” and please send letters to V-Television’s CEO, Maxime Remillard: [email protected]
Update: Canadian Network Disapproves of TV Host’s Anti-Israel and Anti-Jewish Remarks
