Montreal, January 22, 2025 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is raising the alarm about a widely shared article on antisemitism in Canada which is riddled with inaccuracies and promotes hateful views against supporters of Palestinian rights. Written by Canadian journalist Terry Glavin and published in the US-based The Free Press, the article “The Explosion of Jew-Hate in Trudeau’s Canada” claimed to investigate a rise in antisemitism in Canada, but spread misinformation to create a false narrative that targeted Muslim and Palestinian Canadians. CJPME is concerned that, according to analytics on X, millions of people have engaged with an overtly Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian article that promotes dangerous rhetoric.
CJPME’s analysis shows that the over 6,000-word “investigative” article includes invented statistics — like its baseless, leading claim that antisemitism has increased by “670%” in Canada — and perpetuates demonstrably false narratives about pro-Palestine protests in Canada. The article also misrepresented police statements, incorrectly cited the findings of a poll of Canadian Muslims to argue the opposite of what the study found, and blamed Muslim immigrants for the problem of antisemitism in Canada.
Following a CJPME complaint on December 17, 2024, The Free Press agreed to fact check the piece in a reply on December 18. However, after over a month and seven separate follow-ups by CJPME’s Media Accountability Project (MAP), the article remains unchanged and no further response has been provided. For his part, Terry Glavin wrote on X that CJPME’s claims are “lies” and accused the complaint of being “defamatory,” but he failed to provide any evidence.
The article was prominently featured on the Fox Television Network and shared by public figures and organizations including Pierre Poilievre, Gad Saad, the Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Bari Weiss, David Jacobs, Hillel Neuer, Mark R. Levin, Warren Kinsella, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “Many leading voices in Canada took the bait, but they must be more cautious when sharing such sensationalist material in the future,” said Jason Toney, Director of Media Advocacy for CJPME.
Despite its massive engagement, CJPME is outraged that The Free Press refuses to take accountability. “For The Free Press to agree to a factcheck and then refuse to carry it out makes a mockery of media accountability, choosing to abandon journalistic ethics in order to promote a pro-Israel message,” said Toney. “A staunchly pro-Israel, American publication is attempting to misconstrue the reality in Canada. That should alarm people. Their refusal to correct the record shows that this is part of a deliberate effort to conflate the problem of antisemitism with immigration and valid criticism of Israel. Such tactics harm the important fights against antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian racism alike,” Toney added.
CJPME calls on editors of The Free Press to commit to a thorough fact-check of Glavin’s article, add an editor’s note, and issue a public apology. CJPME also invites Canadian journalistic associations and ethics councils, like the Canadian Association of Journalists and the National NewsMedia Council, to act to dissuade future disinformation campaigns in Canada by foreign newspapers. Public figures in Canada must also be more careful when sharing sensationalist content online.