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The case, which has as a lot to do with journalistic ethics because it does with the fraught politics of the Center East, dates again to a July 2014 march organized by the Affiliation of Palestinian Canadians
Printed Nov 24, 2024 • 5 minute learn
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Adam John stands with a Hamas flag, which he says he was holding as a Muslim flag, in a protest in Ottawa in 2014. Photograph by Samantha Wright Allen
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An Ontario court docket has sided with media commentators who recommended the Canadian Union of Postal Employees was a terrorist sympathizer for collaborating in a protest a decade in the past in Ottawa that featured a Hamas flag.
“Their belief that CUPW supports Hamas, a terrorist organisation, is, in my view, honestly held based on proven facts. It does not have to be a reasonable belief. But it must be an honest one,” concluded Justice Graeme Mew of the Superior Court docket of Ontario.
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The case, which has as a lot to do with journalistic ethics because it does with the fraught politics of the Center East, dates again to a July 2014 march organized by the Affiliation of Palestinian Canadians, which was joined by some postal employees who had been invited by their union. However, it solely resolved on Thursday.
The defendants within the case had been Jerry Agar, then a number on the now-defunct Solar Information Community and a contract columnist for the Ontario Chronicle, then owned by Quebecor however now owned by Postmedia, the identical firm that owns Ontario Chronicle, and Avi Benlolo, on the time the president and CEO of the Associates of Simon Wiesenthal Middle for Holocaust Research and now CEO of the Abraham World Peace Initiative and a columnist for Ontario Chronicle.
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“This is an important vindication of the right to engage in debate and express honestly held views,” mentioned Benlolo in an announcement. “This is an important victory for me and one that will be meaningful for the Jewish community.”
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The Ontario Chronicle, one other Postmedia newspaper, lined the protest on the time and interviewed Adam John, the person who was carrying a Hamas flag, who mentioned that whereas a connection might be made between the flag and the fear group, it was meant to be supportive of Islam usually not Hamas specifically.
The presence of the flag, and the lengthy historical past of CUPW activism on Gaza, fashioned the backdrop of the commentary that adopted, and the lawsuit.
Agar, wrote within the Solar: “Would you want a terrorist sympathizer coming to your door every day?” On the Solar Information broadcast, the place Agar was filling in for the common host on The Supply, a present affairs program, Benlolo, who had been booked as a visitor, mentioned the CUPW management “has a history of partnering up with hate groups, anti-Israel groups” and mentioned it was “shocking” that the union “should be so political and siding and partnering up with a hate group like Hamas.”
CUPW sued, arguing that Agar and Benlolo argued, primarily, that the union and its members had been terrorist sympathizers, that CUPW helps Hamas and was not on the rally to assist “ordinary Palestinians” and that this was defamatory. It additionally argued that Agar’s Ontario Chronicle opinion piece was libellous.
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The postal union has lengthy taken a robust stance on the battle between Israel and Palestinians, with its official coverage on peace and disarmament stating that “the occupation of the West Bank and siege on Gaza are major obstacles to justice and a lasting peace,” and expressing assist for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) motion. Its insurance policies have been closely criticized in newspaper columns and had been as soon as criticized, the court docket ruling says, by Bob Rae, then a Liberal member of Parliament.
“I continue to be astonished by the extent to which ideas which should be on the ‘loony tunes’ margins of politics have now been adopted by a union which represents thousands of members,” Rae beforehand mentioned, based on the ruling.
The court docket ended up siding with Agar and Benlolo.
“We are disappointed with the outcome,” mentioned an e-mail from CUPW media relations. “We will reach out when we have more to say.”
At difficulty was not simply CUPW’s historical past and expressed political opinions surrounding Gaza and Israel. The ruling additionally handled an emailed assertion, despatched by a CUPW spokesperson, to journalists who had requested whether or not the union supported Hamas. The spokesperson didn’t explicitly disavow that, and that served as a key little bit of proof within the decide’s resolution.
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Benlolo, nonetheless, tried to make use of a reality defence in court docket — sometimes the hardest-to-use defence in opposition to accusations of libel or defamation.
Though the court docket famous that when Solar Media contacted the postal union for remark, it “did not take the opportunity to distance itself” from any affiliation with the Hamas flag, and that it supported the Canadian Boat to Gaza initiative, a 2011 push for a flotilla to take humanitarian assist previous an Israeli blockade to Palestinians in Gaza, this was not proof sufficient that CUPW knowingly marched with Hamas supporters or helps Hamas, or that mail carriers are terrorist sympathizers. That defence failed.
The 2 males additionally defended their statements as “fair comment,” a well-liked authorized defence in opposition to allegations of defamation or libel. It requires, nonetheless, that the defendant make his or her statements with out malice and that they’ve some grounding in truth. Once more, the decide took up the problem of CUPW’s failure to disavow Hamas when reached for remark.
“A plausible interpretation of CUPW’s unwillingness to address the question … is that CUPW wanted to avoid directly answering the question,” Mew wrote. “While I am not suggesting that CUPW’s failure to take the opportunity to deny its support for Hamas could reasonably be construed as an acknowledgment that it did, in fact, support Hamas, it nevertheless left the door open for Mr. Agar and Mr. Benlolo to make the comments that are the subject of this action.”‘
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The judge concluded that a banner that ran during the conversation — “Supporting Hamas?” — was a question, not a statement of fact.
CUPW, in attempting to counter the defence of fair comment, noted that it “repeatedly denounced violence, terrorism, racism, and all that Hamas stands for (albeit without specifically mentioning Hamas),” the judge wrote, which was ignored by the defendants, and that the support for BDS or the presence of a Hamas flag of which organizers were unaware were “incapable of forming a factual basis for the assertion” that CUPW was a Hamas sympathizer.
The judge disagreed, finding that CUPW’s lengthy historical past of activism offered sufficient factual foundation for the opinions expressed.
“Comment does not have to be reasonable. It can even be farfetched or extreme,” the decide wrote. “The necessary factual substratum for the opinions expressed by the defendants has been adequately demonstrated.”
He additionally discovered that Agar and Benlolo acted with out malice and actually imagine what they mentioned.
Ontario Chronicle was unable to achieve Agar for remark.
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