A Canadian journalist who denied Israel’s right to exist has been fired by the network which employed her, according to the HonestReporting Canada organization.
Yara Jamal, a writer and production assistant with CTV News Atlantic, recently organized an anti-Israel rally in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 21 as part of the organization Free Palestine Halifax, where she told a local news media outlet that Israel has no right to exist.
HonestReporting Canada cited an article covering the anti-Israel demonstration in Saltwire News which quoted Jamal as saying that “Jews can continue to exist, the Zionist ideology cannot.”
“Pressed for whether by ‘Zionist ideology,’ she meant Israel, she said ‘The state, no, cannot exist,’” the article read.
HonestReporting Canada noted that Jamal’s words to Saltwire News were aligned with the hateful views expressed at the Halifax rally, where demonstrators chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
“These comments, both by Jamal and the chants at the rally she helped organize, are well outside the scope of what constitutes legitimate criticism of Israel and are partisan political views that we consider hateful. Rather, they represent the total delegitimization of the Jewish People’s right to self-determination within their historic homeland, and the logical consequences of those hateful words is readily apparent,” said the organization.
In an update released on Thursday, HonestReporting Canada said that Jamal’s profile page on CTV News Atlantic now says “Yara Jamal is no longer with CTV Atlantic.”
A spokesperson for CTV News also confirmed that Jamal is no longer employed at CTV, telling the Toronto Sun that “While we don’t comment on specific staffing matters we can confirm that Yara Jamal is no longer with CTV News.”