A national press ombudsman has ruled that anti-Israel street protestors should not be equated with Nazis, calling such comparisons "overly broad."
Blacklock's Reporter says the National News Media Council found that linking demonstrators to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was both inflammatory and historically inaccurate.
“The Council deliberated on the use of the word ‘Nazi,’” it stated, noting that the term should be applied carefully.
“Some thinkers have argued the term ‘Nazi’ should only be reserved for those responsible for the Holocaust,” the Council wrote. “Others have warned against making casual comparisons particularly without a well-considered awareness of history.”
The ruling stemmed from a complaint regarding an October 5 Toronto Sun column that claimed local anti-Israel protestors “hold the same views” as Nazis.
“The News Media Council determined in this case, suggesting the group of protestors ‘hold the same views’ as Nazis is overly broad and not supported by clear evidence,” the panel wrote.
“For this reason, the Council upheld this portion of the complaint.”
The complaint was filed by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, an anti-Israel advocacy group. The organization includes former New Democrat MP Libby Davies (Vancouver East), a former deputy Party leader, and Northwest Territories MLA Shauna Morgan (Yellowknife North) among its directors.
The Montréal-based group has a history of media complaints regarding pro-Palestinian coverage.
On January 23, it claimed credit for pressuring CBC-TV to issue a correction regarding a broadcast on whether genocide had occurred in Gaza.
“The broad grassroots pushback against this broadcast pressured the CBC to issue a formal correction,” the group stated.
“This statement represents a significant step forward in holding media organizations to account for their coverage of Palestinian narratives,” it added, emphasizing the rarity of such an admission by a public broadcaster.
In 2023, the same group targeted the Ontario-based Kingston Whig-Standard for its description of Israel’s founding. The organization urged supporters to contact the newspaper, encouraging them to complain in their own words that Israel’s establishment led to “Palestinian expulsion.”
Canadians for Justice has also used its Twitter platform to denounce Israel, calling it “sadistic” and “barbaric” while accusing it of war crimes. “Israel appears to be using this crisis as a pretext to escalate its devastating violence on the people of the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip,” it wrote.