The free publicity for anti-Israel Egyptian-American author Omar El Akkad continues in the Canadian news media.
El Akkad, who signed an open letter in the fall of 2023 calling for the release of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails and who denied Israel’s right to exist, has spent much of the last 17 months of the Hamas-Israel war using his platform as a noted author demonizing the Jewish State.
Since then, he has been interviewed by scores of Canadian news media outlets, falsely accusing Israel of genocide, of carrying out a “killing spree” in Gaza, and using the release of a new book to assert without evidence that the world was “watching a group of people be eradicated” in Gaza.
The Sunday Magazine’s Historical Anti-Israel Animus
In a half-hour long segment in the March 9 episode of The Sunday Magazine, a CBC radio program with a history of platforming anti-Israel guests at the exclusion of balance, host Piya Chattopadhyay spoke with El Akkad about his new book, giving the author an extended platform to throw countless accusations Israel’s way, with no pushback from the host.
Even before El Akkad’s first comments were made, Chattopadhyay introduced the segment by telling listeners that “more than 48,000 people” have been killed in “Israel’s bombardment” of Gaza, presenting Hamas’ unverified and highly specious casualty claims as if they were factually beyond any doubt and which was phrased without attribution.
Before long, El Akkad was back to his usual form, lamenting “the bombing of a hospital, the sniping of a child,” and that “we’re watching a slaughter” in Gaza.
El Akkad Ignores That Hamas Started War On October 7
No acknowledgement was made by the author about the nature of what exactly was taking place in Gaza, namely a war launched, not by Israel, but by Palestinian terrorists, and by holding hundreds of hostages, the deliberate perpetuation of that war.
While Chattopadhyay did briefly acknowledge the October 7, 2023 massacres in her introduction, she did not challenge or even offer basic background or context in the face of El Akkad’s framing of Israel’s counter-terrorism operations against Hamas in Gaza as a “slaughter.”
Virtually the entire interview between El Akkad and Chattopadhyay featured the author portraying Israel as a villainous and murderous country, stating that he saw “evidence of the worst things human beings can do to one another,” characteristically portraying Israel as a warmongering state, but deliberately ignoring any mention of Palestinian terrorism.
Rather than challenging her guest, or even offering the slightest background so listeners could have a semblance of balance and a broad perspective as to what was happening in the Middle East, Chattopadhyay treated El Akkad, not as a guest, but as an old friend, saying “I’m sorry that you’re so broken” by current events, and “I hope you can find some healing.”
While there is nothing inherently wrong in treating El Akkad as a friend, and not as an interview subject, this was done in conjunction with Chattopadhyay failing to uphold her role as a journalist, and was particularly egregious given El Akkad’s scandalous anti-Israel comments.
Chattopadhyay’s program has regularly been used to promote anti-Israel talking points and guests, ranging from a December, 2024 segment featuring two guests peddling anti-Israel allegations – to no pushback from the host – to a segment a month earlier where a guest accused Israel of war crimes, similarly with no challenge by this CBC host.
Diversity of voices is a critical bedrock of journalism, but for The Sunday Magazine with Priya Chattopadhyay, it is a value ignored, at least when it comes to Israel.
Originally published by Honest Reporting Canada.