Pro-Palestine demonstrators gathered in front of the CTV Atlantic building in Halifax on Oct. 28, 2023, to protest the departure of journalist Yara Jamal.
The rally, in protest of her departure from CTV, was organized by the Atlantic Canada Palestinian Association and saw protestors gather on Robie Street with Palestinian flags and placards.
Jamal is a Palestinian-Canadian Journalist and University of King’s College alumna. She was a writer and production assistant at CTV. Her profile on the CTV Atlantic website currently says, “Oct. 2023: Yara Jamal is no longer with CTV Atlantic.”
Departure from CTV
Jamal left CTV after she made remarks critical of Israel to the media at a Halifax rally she helped organize against the Israeli bombing of Gaza on Oct. 22.
According to Saltwire, in response to a question asking if Jews can exist peacefully in Palestine, Jamal said, “Jews can continue to exist, the Zionist ideology cannot.”
Saltwire wrote, “When pressed if the ‘Zionist ideology’ referred to the State of Israel, she [Jamal] responded, ‘The state, no, cannot exist.’”
A CTV News spokesperson said, “While we don’t comment on specific staffing matters we can confirm that Yara Jamal is no longer with CTV News.”
Protestors react
Muhammad, a demonstrator at the rally who prefers his last name remain unpublished for fear of the consequences of speaking out, spoke to the Dalhousie Gazette about Jamal.
“She spoke up for Palestine and did an interview. Her words were taken deliberately out of context and used to get her fired from CTV,” he said. “If they cannot silence you, they will try to take away your livelihood as a way to threaten you to not speak up for Palestine. That is what happened at CTV. They did not do any proper, thorough investigations. They just fired her, and we see this happening to Palestinians throughout the country.”
Demonstrator Ibrahim Manna spoke on the recent news coverage of the conflict in Canada.
“It’s a pretty unfair double standard,” Manna said. “I’ve done a lot of interviews myself with CTV, CBC … I have talked for over five minutes, and they cut everything down to maybe 10 seconds of talking … they’re not reporting what’s really going on in Gaza,” he said.
Manna also spoke on the role the Canadian government plays in helping Palestinian-Canadians in Gaza.
“My parents are Canadian citizens stuck in Gaza and our government doesn’t even help,” he said. “I’m ashamed that they [the Canadian government] can’t even talk to Israel or tell them to put in a ceasefire. But, they are willing to help by sending them millions of dollars in weapons. Our government, unfortunately, is complicit,” he said.
Pro-Palestine rallies continue to happen worldwide, including here in Halifax. The Atlantic Canada Palestinian Society held a “ceasefire rally” on Nov. 4.
“At the end of the day, all we can do is our part,” said Muhammed. “We can use our freedom of speech, we can use our voices to be the voices of the voiceless and raise their voices when the mainstream media and our governments refused to do so.”
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