Canada press-freedom group fires staffer over Israel criticism

The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) has been criticised for firing an employee over a statement criticising Israeli forces’ use of live fire against journalists in the occupied Gaza Strip.

According to Al Jazeera, on 2 April CJFE’s communications coordinator Kevin Metcalf wrote a statement on behalf of the group urging the Canadian government to condemn the Israeli army’s “brutality”.

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“Failure to do so,” he wrote, “will undermine Canada’s moral authority when condemning similar acts by any other nation-state. Targeted attacks against demonstrators and journalists must be condemned wherever they occur.”

Metcalf’s statement “was attacked by critics who accused the CJFE of lacking neutrality, taking a position in the conflict and pushing for ‘anti-Israel policy’,” reported Al Jazeera.

On 8 April, CJFE “removed their statement and Metcalf was notified of his termination.”

“It was made very clear to me that they weren’t going to keep me on [employed] as a result of having published the statement,” Metcalf told Al Jazeera.

On 11 April, CJFE released a revised statement, claiming that the original text “went beyond the organisation’s mandate” and was “overreaching”.

Tom Henheffer, vice president of CJFE, said: “The core message wasn’t wrong, but it was too broad in focus and incorrect in tone, easily leaving it open to misinterpretation (which led to the controversy online over the last couple of weeks)”.

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“Our new statement still condemns the IDF [Israeli army] action, calls for an impartial investigation, and asks the Canadian government to call for the same, but does so in a more precise way that better aligns with our core mandate”, Henheffer wrote in an email to Al Jazeera.

Metcalf, for his part, wrote in a Facebook post on 9 April: “Writing and publishing statements and protest letters is what is expected of me as per my job description. It is clear that I am being punished for doing my job.”

Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) said that they were “deeply concerned” about the “politically-motivated firing” of Metcalf.

“The firing of Mr Metcalf for defending press freedom against attacks in Palestine sends the message that support for freedom of the press is contingent,” said Corey Balsam, national coordinator for IJV.

“With Israel’s blockade of access points to the occupied Palestinian territories, local reporters are among the few sources of information coming out of the region,” added Balsam.