Jayapal: Border deal would force many migrants unable to seek asylum ‘back to certain death’

Sarah Fortinsky

THE HILL
Mon, February 5, 2024 

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, criticized the long-awaited bipartisan border deal released late Sunday, saying changes it would make to the asylum-seeking process would send “too many people back to certain death, discrimination, or other harm.”

“I am still reviewing the text of this proposal, which was constructed under Republican hostage-taking and refusal to fund aid for Ukraine without cruelty toward immigrants. However, it is already clear it includes poison pill provisions such as new Title 42-like expulsion authority that will close the border and turn away asylum seekers without due process, a boon to cartels who prey on migrants,” Jayapal said in a statement.

“For migrants who are able to seek asylum, they would now be subject to unrealistic standards and timelines under which to present their asylum claims, forcing too many people back to certain death, discrimination, or other harm,” Jayapal added. “The bill also limits parole at land ports of entry which will only disincentivize people coming to ports to be processed in a safe and orderly way.”

The border security deal — part of the larger supplemental funding package that includes aid for Israel, Ukraine, and other foreign policy priorities — came together after months of negotiations led by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.).

It includes provisions to raise standards for asylum screening and to process claims faster. It also ends the practice known as “catch and release,” and it provides a new authority to close the border to most migrants when crossings reach a set threshold. This enhanced border emergency authority, however, would not apply to unaccompanied children or migrants experiencing medical emergencies or an imminent threat to their lives.

“Democrats have given in to these extremist views over and over again for 30 years. By refusing to make the structural changes in the Senate needed to pass true reforms, allowing MAGA Republicans to lie to the American public, and declining to stand up and defend immigrant communities, it appears that President Biden and Senate Democrats have fallen into the same trap again,” Jayapal said.

“I will continue to closely examine the text released today, but I cannot support a proposal that fails to learn from 30 years of data and would only repeat our mistakes — with migrant lives in the crosshairs,” she added.

Additionally, the measure seeks to make it easier for migrants to get work authorization and eliminate the immigration court backlog.

However, Jayapal made clear that these concessions are not enough.

“The Senate will try to sell this so-called deal by pointing to some additional green cards and fixes for small immigrant groups. However, let’s be clear: minor visa tweaks in exchange for shutting down the asylum system and exacting further harm on the vulnerable people seeking refuge in the United States is not serious reform and it once again throws immigrants under the political bus,” Jayapal wrote.

“There is no question that we need significant changes to our immigration system. It is long overdue for modernization to allow for efficient and orderly processing of migrants who seek to come to the United States and to increase legal pathways for work and family visas, refugees, and asylum seekers. However, this proposal includes none of the thoughtful reforms to do that or to actually address the situation at the border in a humane way that recognizes the contributions immigrants make to our economy and our communities.”

US Justice Department probing ADM accounting practices -sources

Mon, February 5, 2024 




By Chris Prentice and Jody Godoy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department is probing accounting practices at Archer Daniels Midland Co, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, ramping up pressure on the global commodities giant.

New York-listed shares of ADM's stock dropped 24% on Jan. 22 after the company disclosed the previous day that it had suspended its CFO amid an internal probe into accounting practices related to its Nutrition division. The company's probe was prompted by a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry, it said.

The two sources said that in recent days the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has interviewed former ADM employees about accounting practices at the 122-year old, Chicago-based maker of animal feed, sweeteners and other products.

The sources each said a SDNY prosecutor asked about the company's pricing practices related to the sales of goods from ADM's commodities units to its Nutrition division.

A third source with knowledge of the matter said that the SDNY had opened an investigation into ADM. The source was unaware of the substance of the probe.

Reuters could not immediately determine the scope of the probe or the degree to which it had advanced.

Spokespeople for ADM and SDNY declined to comment.

Government investigations are not evidence of wrongdoing and do not necessarily result in charges.

Still, a probe by the Justice Department, which has the power to bring criminal charges and impose steep fines, increases pressure on ADM and is likely to inflame investor concerns.

Shares of ADM extended earlier losses on Monday, falling 4.3% to $53.29 at around 1:43 p.m. EST (1843 GMT).

Reuters could not ascertain if the Justice Department probe directly relates to the company's internal probe. That focuses on "intersegment transactions" in ADM's Nutrition reporting segment and the transfer of goods between segments, according to ADM's Jan. 21 disclosure in which it also said it was delaying its financial results.

The Nutrition division manufactures ingredients used in pet food, animal feed and consumer products, such as energy bars. It is a relatively small unit of ADM, a giant in global grains trading which has a market capitalization of nearly $30 billion. Since 2020, however, the division has played a major role in the doling out of executive compensation.

A change by ADM's Compensation and Succession Committee in 2020 tied half of long-term executive compensation to the Nutrition segment's operating profit growth, according to ADM's regulatory filings. Previously, long-term compensation had been based on ADM's adjusted earnings, return on invested capital and relative total shareholder returns, the filings showed.

ADM's 24% share price plunge was its biggest single-day fall since 1929, according to the Chicago-based Center for Research in Security Prices.

The company has since told employees that it will delay bonuses for some senior executives until its financial statements were completed and audited, Reuters reported last week.

(Reporting by Chris Prentice and Jody Godoy in New York

Editing by Michelle Price, Caroline Stauffer and Matthew Lewis)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for ADM 

Parisians vote to hit SUVs with eye-popping parking costs in latest green drive before Olympics

HELENA ALVES and JOHN LEICESTER
Updated Mon, February 5, 2024

SUV car drive on the Champs Elysees avenue, near to the Arc de Triomphe Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Paris. Paris residents are voting on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024 whether to muscle SUVs off the French capital’s streets by making them much more expensive to park. It's the latest leg in a drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to make the host city for this year’s Olympic Games greener and friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)More

PARIS (AP) — Parisians voted Sunday to muscle SUVs off the French capital's streets by making them much more expensive to park starting next September, the latest leg in a drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to make the host city for this year's Olympic Games greener and friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists.

More than 54% of the votes cast in the low-turnout election supported the measure to triple parking fees for large SUV drivers from out of town to 18 euros ($19.50) per hour in the city's center, according to official results from City Hall. Only 5.7% of the 1.3 million eligible voters cast ballots at the 39 voting stations around the city.

In get-out-the-vote posts on social media, Hidalgo argued that SUVs take up too much space on narrow Parisian streets, are too polluting and "threaten our health and our planet," and cause more traffic accidents than smaller cars. The additional fees will come into force from Sept. 1, Hidalgo said.

“The time has come to break with this tendency for cars that are always bigger, taller, wider," she said. “You have the power to take back ownership of our streets.”

The cost for non-residents to park SUVs in Paris’ central districts, in the arrondissements numbered 1 through 11, would soar to 18 euros ($19.5) per hour for the first two hours, compared to 6 euros per hour for smaller cars.

After that, parking would become increasingly punitive. A six-hour stay with an SUV — enough, say, to take in a show and a restaurant — would cost a whopping 225 euros ($243), compared to 75 euros for smaller vehicles.

Away from the heart of the city, in Paris' outer arrondissements numbered 12 through 20, an out-of-town SUV driver would pay 12 euros per hour for the first two hours, progressively rising to 150 euros for six hours.

The mini-referendum was open to Parisians registered to vote. The question they were asked was: "For or against the creation of a specific rate for the parking of heavy, bulky, polluting individual cars?”

Cyreane Demur, a 20-year-old student, voted in the chic 8th arrondissement that includes that car-clogged Champs-Elysées boulevard and its chaotic traffic circle around the monumental Arc de Triomphe.

Demur said heavier cars make congestion “even more complicated” and that ”one must consider the ecology, the parking issues."

But Jadine L’Orlendu, a 75-year-old voter, said SUVs “do not disturb me, they do not take more space than other cars, the parking places are marked, and people should drive what they want to drive. It’s about freedom.”

The vote follows another City Hall consultation last year on whether to ban for-hire electric scooters. The 15,000 opinion-dividing mini-machines were subsequently banished from Paris streets after nearly 90% of the 103,000 voters rejected e-scooters.

In a country of car-lovers, home to Renault, Citroen and Peugeot, Hidalgo has worked for years to make Paris less car-friendly. Motor vehicles have been barred entirely from some roads, most notably a River Seine embankment that used to be a busy highway. It’s become a central Paris haven for cyclists, runners, families and romantics since Hidalgo closed it to motor traffic in 2016.

More bike lanes are being added for the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and Paralympic Games that follow.

But City Hall says that as car traffic has steadily decreased, down by half since the end of the 1990s, SUVs are denting the progress and fouling the air with their outsize dimensions. City Hall says that SUV collisions with pedestrians are twice as deadly than accidents involving smaller cars. It notes that two-thirds of Parisians now don't own a car.

City Hall's proposed ramped-up parking prices would apply to conventional or hybrid-engined SUVs from out of town that weigh 1.6 tons or more and 2 tons or more if they're fully electric.

___

Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France.

McDonald’s says Israel boycotts are hurting its business

Miranda Nazzaro
Mon, February 5, 2024 

McDonald’s on Monday said the ongoing tensions in the Middle East are putting a dent in its business.

In its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 report released Monday, the Chicago-based burger chain said sales in its licensed markets business — which includes most of its Middle East locations — increased by only 0.7 percent in the last quarter.

The company said the low number is a reflection of “the impact of the war” between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Middle East.

This is less than the company’s overall sales growth of 3.4 percent and that of their U.S. and other international businesses, which each increased by more than 4 percent, the report stated.

Monday’s report marked a significant shift from a year ago, when the company’s licensed markets business was its best-performing sector, with more than 16 percent sales growth, CNN Business reported.

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said during a Monday earnings call that the company is seeing the “most pronounced impact” in the Middle East, with other Muslim countries including Malaysia and Indonesia.

“Also, as we said in our prepared remarks, our outlook is, so long as this conflict, this war is going on, we’re not making any plans, we’re not expecting to see any significant improvement in this,” Kempczinski told investors. “It’s a human tragedy what’s going on, and I think that that does weigh on brands like ours.”

The fast-food company came under scrutiny after McDonald’s Israel gave away thousands of free meals to Israeli forces and citizens following Hamas’s surprise assault on southern Israel. The move prompted calls to boycott the company in protest of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has killed more than 27,400 people since last October, per the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Multiple owners of franchises in the Middle East and Asia came out in opposition against the move by McDonald’s Israel, per multiple media reports last November.

Kempczinski on Monday called the backlash against local businesses amid the Israel-Hamas war “disheartening and ill-founded” and noted McDonalds “will always proudly open our doors to everyone.”

McDonald’s is among several companies facing boycotts over the Middle East, with others including Starbucks and Coca Cola over accusations of supporting Israel’s war in Gaza.

Starbucks last week lowered its sales forecast in the wake of weakened spending in China and other markets, The Associated Press reported.

McDonald’s shares dropped by 3.7 percent Monday following the announcement.

CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’

Chris McGreal
Sun, February 4, 2024 

Pro-Palestinian protesters rally outside CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, on 14 October 2023.Photograph: John Arthur Brown/Zuma Press via Alamy


CNN is facing a backlash from its own staff over editorial policies they say have led to a regurgitation of Israeli propaganda and the censoring of Palestinian perspectives in the network’s coverage of the war in Gaza.

Journalists in CNN newsrooms in the US and overseas say broadcasts have been skewed by management edicts and a story-approval process that has resulted in highly partial coverage of the Hamas massacre on 7 October and Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza.

“The majority of news since the war began, regardless of how accurate the initial reporting, has been skewed by a systemic and institutional bias within the network toward Israel,” said one CNN staffer. “Ultimately, CNN’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war amounts to journalistic malpractice.”

According to accounts from six CNN staffers in multiple newsrooms, and more than a dozen internal memos and emails obtained by the Guardian, daily news decisions are shaped by a flow of directives from the CNN headquarters in Atlanta that have set strict guidelines on coverage.

They include tight restrictions on quoting Hamas and reporting other Palestinian perspectives while Israel government statements are taken at face value. In addition, every story on the conflict must be cleared by the Jerusalem bureau before broadcast or publication.

CNN journalists say the tone of coverage is set at the top by its new editor-in-chief and CEO, Mark Thompson, who took up his post two days after the 7 October Hamas attack. Some staff are concerned about Thompson’s willingness to withstand external attempts to influence coverage given that in a former role as the BBC’s director general he was accused of bowing to Israeli government pressure on a number of occasions, including a demand to remove one of the corporation’s most prominent correspondents from her post in Jerusalem in 2005.

CNN insiders say that has resulted, particularly in the early weeks of the war, in a greater focus on Israeli suffering and the Israeli narrative of the war as a hunt for Hamas and its tunnels, and an insufficient focus on the scale of Palestinian civilian deaths and destruction in Gaza.

One journalist described a “schism” within the network over coverage they said was at times reminiscent of the cheerleading that followed 9/11.

“There’s a lot of internal strife and dissent. Some people are looking to get out,” they said.

Another journalist in a different bureau said that they too saw pushback.

“Senior staffers who disagree with the status quo are butting heads with the executives giving orders, questioning how we can effectively tell the story with such restrictive directives in place,” they said.

“Many have been pushing for more content from Gaza to be alerted and aired. By the time these reports go through Jerusalem and make it to TV or the homepage, critical changes – from the introduction of imprecise language to an ignorance of crucial stories – ensure that nearly every report, no matter how damning, relieves Israel of wrongdoing.”

CNN staff say that some journalists with experience of reporting the conflict and region have avoided assignments in Israel because they do not believe they will be free to tell the whole story. Others speculate that they are being kept away by senior editors.

“It is clear that some who don’t belong are covering the war and some who do belong aren’t,” said one insider.
Edicts from on high

At Thompson’s first editorial meeting, two days after the 7 October Hamas attack, the new network chief described CNN’s coverage of the rapidly moving story as “basically great”.

Thompson then said he wanted viewers to understand what Hamas is, what it stands for and what it was trying to achieve with the attack. Some of those listening thought that a laudable journalistic goal. But they said that in time it became clear he had more specific expectations for how journalists should cover the group.

In late October, as the Palestinian death toll rose sharply from Israeli bombing with more than 2,700 children killed according to the Gaza health ministry, and as Israel prepared for its ground invasion, a set of guidelines landed in CNN staff inboxes.

A note at the top of the two-page memo pointed to an instruction “from Mark” to pay attention to a particular paragraph under “coverage guidance”. The paragraph said that, while CNN would report the human consequences of the Israeli assault and the historical context of the story, “we must continue always to remind our audiences of the immediate cause of this current conflict, namely the Hamas attack and mass murder and kidnap of civilians”. (Italics in the original.)

CNN staff members said the memo solidified a framework for stories in which the Hamas massacre was used to implicitly justify Israeli actions, and that other context or history was often unwelcome or marginalised.

“How else are editors going to read that other than as an instruction that no matter what the Israelis do, Hamas is ultimately to blame? Every action by Israel – dropping massive bombs that wipe out entire streets, its obliteration of whole families – the coverage ends up massaged to create a ‘they had it coming’ narrative,” said one staffer.

The same memo said that any reference to casualty figures from the Gaza health ministry must say it is “Hamas-controlled”, implying that reports of the deaths of thousands of children were unreliable even though the World Health Organization and other international bodies have said they are largely accurate. CNN staff said that edict was laid down by Thompson at an earlier editorial meeting.

Broader oversight of coverage from the CNN headquarters in Atlanta is directed by “the Triad” of three CNN departments: news standards and practices, legal and fact-checking.

David Lindsay, the senior director of news standards and practices, issued a directive in early November effectively barring the reporting of most Hamas statements, characterising them as “inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda”.

“Most of it has been said many times before and is not newsworthy. We should be careful not to give it a platform,” he wrote.

Lindsay said that if a statement was deemed editorially relevant “we can use it if it’s accompanied by greater context, preferably a package or digital write. Let’s avoid running it as a standalone soundbite or quote.”

In contrast, one CNN staffer noted that the network repeatedly aired inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda from Israeli officials and American supporters, often without challenge in interviews.

They noted that other channels have carried interviews with Hamas leaders while CNN has not, including one in which the group’s spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, cut short questions from the BBC when he was challenged about the murder of Israeli civilians. One staffer said there is a view among correspondents that it is “agony to get a Hamas interview past the Triad”.

CNN sources acknowledged there have been no interviews with Hamas since the 7 October attack, but said the network does not have a ban on such interviews.

But CNN news desks and reporters have been instructed not to use video recorded by Hamas “under any circumstances unless cleared by the Triad and senior editorial leadership”.

That position was reiterated in another instruction on 23 October that reports must not show Hamas recordings of the release of two Israeli hostages, Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz. Two days later, Lindsay sent an additional instruction that video of the 85-year-old Lifshitz shaking hands with one of her captors “can only to be used when specifically writing about her decision to shake hands with her captor”.

In addition to the edicts from Atlanta, CNN has a longstanding policy that all copy on the Israel-Palestine situation must be approved for broadcast or publication by the Jerusalem bureau. In July, the network created a process it called “SecondEyes” to speed up those approvals.

The Jerusalem bureau chief, Richard Greene, told staff in a memo announcing SecondEyes – first reported by the Intercept – that, because coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is subject to close scrutiny by partisans on both sides, the measure was created as a “safety net so we don’t use imprecise language or words that may sound impartial but can have coded meanings here”.

CNN staffers said there is nothing inherently wrong with the requirement given the huge sensitivity of covering Israel and Palestine, and the aggressive nature of Israeli authorities and well-organised pro-Israel groups in seeking to influence coverage. But some feel that a measure that was originally intended to maintain standards has become a tool of self-censorship to avoid controversy.

One result of SecondEyes is that Israeli official statements are often quickly cleared and make it on air on the principle that that they are to be trusted at face value, seemingly rubber-stamped for broadcast, while statements and claims from Palestinians, and not just Hamas, are delayed or never reported.

One CNN staffer said edits by SecondEyes often seemed aimed at avoiding criticism from pro-Israel groups. They gave the example of Greene’s intervention to change a headline, “Israel is nowhere near destroying Hamas” – a perspective widely reflected in the foreign and Israeli press. It was replaced with a headline that shifted the focus from whether Israel could achieve its stated justification for killing thousands of Palestinian civilians: “Three months on, Israel is entering a new phase of the war. Is it still trying to ‘destroy’ Hamas?”

Some CNN staff fear that the result is a network acting as a surrogate censor on behalf of the Israeli government.

“The system results in chosen individuals editing any and all reporting with an institutionalised pro-Israel bias, often using passive language to absolve the [Israel Defense Forces] of responsibility, and playing down Palestinian deaths and Israeli attacks,” said one of the network’s journalists.

CNN staff who spoke to the Guardian were quick to praise thorough and hard-hitting reporting by correspondents on the ground. They said those reports are often given prominence on CNN International, seen outside the US. But on the CNN channel available in the US, they are frequently less visible and at times marginalised by hours of interviews with Israeli officials and supporters of the war in Gaza who were given free rein to make their case, often unchallenged and sometimes with presenters making supportive statements. Meanwhile, Palestinian voices and views were far less frequently heard and more rigorously challenged.

One staffer pointed to the appearance of Rami Igra, a former senior official in the Israeli intelligence service, on Anderson Cooper’s show, where he claimed that the entire Palestinian population of Gaza could be regarded as combatants.

“The non-combatant population in the Gaza Strip is really a nonexistent term because all of the Gazans voted for the Hamas and as we have seen on the 7th of October, most of the population in the Gaza Strip are Hamas,” he said.

“Nonetheless, we are treating them as non-combatants, we are treating them as regular civilians, and they are spared from the fighting.”

Cooper did not challenge him on either point. By the time the interview aired on 19 November, more than 13,000 people had been killed in Gaza, most of them civilians.

Another CNN staffer picked out anchor Jake Tapper’s programme as an example of an anchor too closely identifying with one side while the other gets only a restricted look in. In one segment, Tapper acknowledged the death and suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza but appeared to defend the scale of the Israeli attack on Gaza.

“What exactly did Hamas think the Israeli military would do in response to that?” he said, referring to the attack on 7 October.

A CNN spokesperson said: “We absolutely reject the notion that any of our journalists treat Israeli officials differently to other officials.”

Another presenter, Sara Sidner, drew criticism for her excitable report on unverified Israeli claims that Hamas beheaded dozens of babies on 7 October.

“We have some really disturbing new information out of Israel,” she announced four days after the attack.

“The Israeli prime minister’s spokesman just confirmed, babies and toddlers were found with their heads decapitated in Kfar Aza in southern Israel after Hamas attacks in the kibbutz over the weekend. That has been confirmed by the prime minister’s office.”

Sidner called the claim “beyond devastating”.

“For the families listening, for the people of Israel, for anyone that is a parent, who loves children, I don’t know how they get through this,” she said.

Sidner then put it to a CNN reporter in Jerusalem, Hadas Gold, that the decapitation of babies would make it impossible for Israel to make peace with Hamas.

Gold replied: “How can you when you’re dealing with people who would do such atrocities to children, to babies, to toddlers?”

Gold, who was part of the SecondEyes team approving stories, again said the report had been confirmed by Netanyahu’s office and she drew parallels with the Holocaust. She responded to a Hamas denial that it had decapitated babies as unbelievable “when we literally have video of these guys, of these militants, of these terrorists doing exactly what they say they’re not doing to civilians and to children”.

Except, as a CNN journalist pointed out, the network did not have such video and, apparently, neither did anyone else.

“The problem was that yet again the Israeli government’s version of events was promoted in an emotional way with very little scrutiny by someone who is supposed to be a neutral news presenter,” they said.

By the time of Sidner’s broadcast there were already good reasons for CNN to treat the claims with caution.

Israeli journalists who toured Kfar Aza the day before said they had seen no evidence of such a crime and military officials there had made no mention of it. Instead, Tim Langmaid, the Atlanta-based CNN vice-president and senior editorial director, sent an instruction that President Biden’s claims to have seen pictures of the alleged atrocity “back up what the Israeli government said”.

Even as the questions grew, Langmaid sent out a memo saying: “It is important to cover the atrocities of the Hamas attacks and war as we learn them.”

CNN insiders said senior editors should have treated the story with caution from the beginning because the Israeli military has a track record of false or exaggerated claims that subsequently fall apart.

Other networks, such as Sky News, were considerably more sceptical in their reporting and laid out the tenuous origins of the story, which began with a reporter for an Israeli news channel saying soldiers had told her that 40 children had been killed in the Hamas massacre and that one soldier had said he had seen “bodies of babies with their heads cut off”. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) then used the claim to liken Hamas to the Islamic State.

Even after the White House admitted that neither the president nor his officials had themselves seen pictures of beheaded babies, and that they had been relying on Israeli claims, Langmaid told the newsroom it could still report the Israeli government assertions alongside a denial from Hamas.

CNN did report on the rolling back of the claims as Israeli officials backtracked, but one staffer said that by then the damage had been done, describing the coverage as a failure of journalism.

“The infamous ‘beheaded babies’ claim, attributed to the Israeli government, made it to air for roughly 18 hours – even after the White House walked back on Biden’s statement that he had seen the nonexistent photos. CNN had no access to photographic evidence, nor any ability to independently verify these claims,” they said.

A CNN spokesperson said the network accurately reported what was being said at the time.

“We took great care to attribute these claims across our reporting, and we also issued very specific guidance to this effect,” they said.

Some CNN staff raised similar issues with reporting on Hamas tunnels in Gaza and claims they led to a sprawling command centre under al-Shifa hospital.

Insiders say some journalists have pushed back against the restrictions. One pointed to Jomana Karadsheh, a London-based correspondent with a long history of reporting from the Middle East.

“Jomana has really pushed to shine a spotlight on the Palestinian victims of this war and she has had some success. She’s done some really important stories putting a human face on it all and in looking at Israeli actions and intent. But I don’t think it’s been easy for her. These stories don’t get the prominence they deserve,” one said.

The push for more balanced coverage has been complicated by Israel’s block on foreign journalists entering Gaza except under IDF control and subject to censorship. That has helped keep the full impact of the war on Palestinians off of CNN and other channels while ensuring that there is a continued focus on the Israeli perspective.

A CNN spokesperson rejected allegations of bias.

“Our reporting has confronted Israel’s response to the attacks, including some of our most detailed and high-profile investigations, interviews and reports,” they said.

CNN faced similar accusations of partiality in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 when the network’s chair, Walter Isaacson, ordered that reports on the killing of Afghan civilians by US forces be balanced with condemnation of the Taliban for its links to al-Qaida.

“As we get good reports from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, we must redouble our efforts to make sure we do not seem to be simply reporting from their vantage or perspective. We must talk about how the Taliban are using civilian shields and how the Taliban have harbored the terrorists responsible for killing close to 5,000 innocent people,” he wrote in a memo, according to the Washington Post.

Some staffers say that after the first few weeks in which CNN reported the Hamas attack “like it was 9/11”, more space was made for the Palestinian perspective given the escalating death toll and destruction from Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza.

The only foreign journalist to report from Gaza without an Israeli escort has been CNN’s Clarissa Ward, who entered for two hours with a humanitarian team from the United Arab Emirates.

Ward acknowledged the challenges in the Washington Post last week. She wrote that her reporting from Israel allowed her “to create a vivid picture of the monstrosities of Oct 7” but she was being prevented from conveying a fuller picture of the tragedy unfolding in Gaza because of the Israeli block on foreign journalists, putting the burden solely on a limited number of courageous Palestinian reporters who are being killed in disproportionate numbers.

“We must now be able to report on the horrific death and destruction being meted out in Gaza in the same way – on the ground, independently – amid one of the most intense bombardments in the history of modern warfare,” she wrote.

“The response to our report on Gaza in Israeli media suggests an unspoken reason for denying access. When asked on air about our piece, one reporter from the Israeli Channel 13 replied, ‘If indeed Western reporters begin to enter Gaza, this will for sure be a big headache for Israel and Israeli hasbara.’ Hasbara is a Hebrew word for pro-Israel advocacy.”

Some at CNN fear that its coverage of the latest Gaza war is damaging a reputation built up by its reporting of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to a surge in viewers. But others say that the Ukraine war may be part of the problem because editorial standards grew lax as the network and many of its journalists identified clearly with one side – Ukraine – particularly at the beginning of the conflict.

One CNN staffer said that Ukraine coverage set a dangerous precedent that has come back to haunt the network because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is far more divisive and views are much more deeply entrenched.

“The complacency in our editorial standards and journalistic integrity while reporting on Ukraine has come back to haunt us. Only this time, the stakes are higher and the consequences much more severe. Journalistic complacency is an easier pill for the world to swallow when it’s Arab lives lost instead of European,” they said.

Another CNN employee said the double standards are glaring.

“It’s OK for us to be embedded with the IDF, producing reports censored by the army, but we cannot talk to the organisation that won a majority of the votes in Gaza whether we like it or not. CNN viewers are being prevented from hearing from a central player in this story,” they said.

“It is not journalism to say we won’t talk to someone because we don’t like what they do. CNN has talked to plenty of terrorists and America’s enemies over the years. We’ve interviewed Muammar Gaddafi. We’ve even interviewed Osama bin Laden. So what’s different this time?”
Years of pressure

Journalists working at CNN have varied explanations.

Some say the problem is rooted in years of pressure from the Israeli government and allied groups in the US combined with a fear of losing advertising.

During the battle for narrative through the second Palestinian intifada in the early 2000s, Israel’s then communications minister, Reuven Rivlin, called CNN ‘‘evil, biased and unbalanced”. The Jerusalem Post likened the network’s correspondent in the city, Sheila MacVicar, to “the woman who refilled the toilet paper in the Goebbels’ commode”.

CNN’s founder, Ted Turner, caused a storm when he told the Guardian in 2002 that Israel was engaging in terrorism against the Palestinians.

“The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that’s all they have. The Israelis … they’ve got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism,” said Turner, who was then the vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owned CNN.

The resulting storm of protest resulted in threats to the network’s revenue, including moves by Israeli cable television companies to supplant the network with Fox News.

CNN’s chair, Walter Isaacson, appeared on Israeli television to denounce Turner but that did not stem the criticism. The network’s then chief news executive, Eason Jordan, imposed a new rule that CNN would no longer show statements by suicide bombers or interview their relatives, and flew to Israel to quell the political storm.

CNN also began broadcasting a series about the victims of Palestinian suicide bombers. The network insisted that the move was not a response to pressure but some of its journalists were sceptical. CNN did not produce a similar series with the relatives of innocent Palestinians killed by Israel in bombings.

By 2021, the Columbia Journalism Review public editor for CNN, Ariana Pekary, accused the network of excluding Palestinian voices and historical context from coverage.

Thompson has his own battle scars from dealing with Israeli officials when he was director general of the BBC two decades ago.

In the spring of 2005, the BBC was embroiled in a very public row over an interview with the Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, who was released from prison the year before.

The Israeli authorities barred Vanunu from giving interviews. When a BBC documentary team spoke to him and then smuggled the footage out of Israel, the authorities reacted by effectively expelling the acting head of the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau, Simon Wilson, who was not involved in the interview.

The dispute rolled on for months before the BBC eventually bowed to an Israeli demand that Wilson write a letter of apology before he could return to Jerusalem. The letter, which included a commitment to “obey the regulations in the future”, was to have remained confidential but the BBC unintentionally posted details online before removing them a few hours later. The climbdown angered some BBC journalists who were enduring persistent pressure and abuse for their coverage.

Later that year, Thompson visited Jerusalem and met the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, in an effort to improve relations after other incidents.

The Israeli government was particularly unhappy with the BBC’s highly experienced Jerusalem correspondent, Orla Guerin. The Israeli minister for diaspora affairs at the time, Natan Sharansky, accused her of antisemitism and “total identification with the goals and methods of the Palestinian terror groups” after a report by Guerin about the arrest of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy carrying explosives. She accused Israeli officials of turning the arrest into a propaganda opportunity because they “paraded the child in front of the international media” after forcing him to wait at a checkpoint for the arrival of photographers.

Within days of Thompson’s meeting with Sharon, the BBC announced that Guerin would be leaving Jerusalem. At the time, Thompson’s office denied he acted under pressure from Israel and said that Guerin had completed a longer than usual posting.

'Shocking': Air Canada CEO blasted over accessibility services at House committee


The Canadian Press
Mon, February 5, 2024 


Lawmakers took Air Canada's CEO to task on Monday over "shocking" and failures to accommodate passengers living with disabilities.

At a House of Commons committee hearing on services for Canadians with disabilities, chief executive Michael Rousseau faced a barrage of questions over reports of passenger mistreatment in the past year.

Conservative vice-chair Tracy Gray cited several incidents she deemed shocking: "An Air Canada passenger had a lift fall on her head and her ventilator was disconnected; Air Canada leaving Canada's own chief accessibility officer's wheelchair behind on a cross-Canada flight ... and a man was dropped and injured when Air Canada staff didn't use a lift as requested."

In August, a man with spastic cerebral palsy was forced to drag himself off of an airplane due to a lack of help, a situation Bloc Québécois MP Louise Chabot called "scandalous."

Asked by NDP disability inclusion critic Bonita Zarrillo whether he'd ever had to crawl down the aisle or exit on a catering cart — in reference to recent stories — he replied, "No, of course not."

"We do make mistakes," he said.

Rousseau pointed to an expedited accessibility scheme announced in November along with new measures to improve the travel experience for hundreds of thousands of passengers living with a disability.

Last week, the carrier formed an advisory committee made up of customers with disabilities and laid out a program where a lanyard worn by travellers indicates to staff they may need assistance.

"The vast majority of customers requesting accessibility help from Air Canada are having a good experience. There are exceptions. We take responsibility for those exceptions," Rousseau said.

He apologized last fall for the airline's failures around accessible air travel.

Zarrillo suggested the shortcomings run deeper than occasional missteps, saying Air Canada's "corporate culture" and a lack of federal enforcement account for the mistreatment, even after regulatory reforms in the past five years.

Others suggested the legislation itself needs further overhauls.

Conservative MP Rosemarie Falk pressed Rousseau on whether the airline was in compliance with all regulations after he initially replied, "I can't respond to that question at this point in time."

Once he'd landed on a yes, Falk said the airline's accessibility problems amid stated compliance with the law would suggest "major flaws" in the Accessible Canada Act, passed in 2019.

However, Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos argued the issue appeared to lie more with day-to-day implementation than with regulations or C-suite priorities.

He cited Jeff Preston, an associate professor of disability studies at King's University College, who wrote that Air Canada has up-to-date accessibility frameworks, but that "none of these policies are being adequately downstreamed from corporate/legal to the front line."

Rousseau had a comparable view: "The chief issue is inconsistency."

Complaints have come from various corners.

In December, the Canadian Paralympic Committee along with some para athletes demanded better transport to and from competitions abroad.

The call followed repeated complaints from Paralympic athletes of damaged or broken equipment, on top of delayed flights for competitors from Canada trying to reach the Parapan American Games in Chile in November.

Last month, Air Canada appealed a decision by the country's transport regulator that seeks to boost accessibility for travellers living with a disability. If successful, the move would overturn a requirement to fully accommodate passengers whose wheelchairs are too large to move into airplane cargo holds.

Under its three-year accessibility plan, Air Canada has pledged to roll out measures that range from establishing a customer accessibility director to consistently boarding passengers who request lift assistance first.

The Montreal-based company also aims to implement annual, recurrent training in accessibility – such as how to use an eagle lift – for its 10,000-odd airport employees. It further plans to include mobility aids in an app that can track baggage.

"We have high awareness, a strong work ethic and deep empathy among our employees and contractors," Rousseau said.

Flight delays — a persistent snag at Air Canada, which ranked last in on-time performance last year out of 10 large North American carriers — affect people living with disabilities more, he acknowledged. He said the company's latest measures aim to "help alleviate that concern.”

Accessibility advocates have pointed to holes in the Accessible Canada Act they say allow problems to persist in areas ranging from consultation to assistance protocols.

Heather Walkus, who heads the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, has highlighted a lack of detail on how to train staff. She has also cited a rule requiring federally regulated companies to involve people with disabilities in developing policies, programs and services — a “regulation you could drive a truck through.”

“You could send the administrator down to Tim Hortons and talk to someone in a wheelchair and you’ve consulted with the disability community. It’s a check-off,” she told The Canadian Press in November. The group she heads was not contacted by Air Canada on its new accessibility blueprint, she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Mexico's president wants to guarantee people pensions equal to their full salaries when they retire

Mon, February 5, 2024 

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Monday he will propose guaranteeing people pensions equal to their full salaries at the time they retire, something done by no other country, not even those much richer than Mexico.

It was among a raft of 20 constitutional reforms that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has almost no hope of getting passed in the eight months he has left in office, but which could be part of a bid to attract voters in the June 2 presidential elections.

It may be just electioneering: López Obrador leaves office in September, and he really wants his party’s candidate, former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, to win the presidential elections. He apparently hopes the promise of full-wage pensions could also help win his Morena party the two-thirds majority in Congress it needs to amend the Constitution.

But analysts say it may also be an attempt to set the agenda for the next administration by saddling any future president from Morena with high — and expensive — expectations.

“It's an election year, so all these reform initiatives can be seen as something to get people to vote for Morena,” said Gabriela Siller, the director of analysis at Nuevo Leon-based Banco Base. But she notes it is also “a way of setting the political agenda for the next administration, a way of placing his imprint on the next administration.”

For the moment, López Obrador doesn’t have the votes in Congress to get the reforms passed, given that they require a two-thirds vote to amend the Constitution, and opposition parties are not likely to go along with it in the few months he has left in office.

For example, he wants the National Guard — now Mexico's main law enforcement agency — handed over to the army, a change Congress has already rejected. He also wants to e liminate most government regulatory and oversight agencies.

In announcing the measures Monday, the president claimed it was an attempt “to recover holy rights, guaranteed to Mexicans by God.” It was among a package of reforms that included guaranteed annual increases in payments to the elderly and increases in the minimum wage and above the rate of inflation.

The reform proposals also included guaranteed access to the internet, a total ban on fracking, open-pit mining, GM corn, cruelty to animals and vaping pens.

López Obrador has made other unfulfilled promises in the past, like pledging Mexico would have a health care system “better than in Denmark." That is something that has obviously not come to pass in Mexico's crowded, ill-equipped hospitals, which frequently lack medications. He has also proposed recognizing the the ’right’ of all Mexicans to own their own homes.

But the cost of what López Obrador is proposing for pensions is striking. Mexico’s workforce is made up of about 60 million people and the reform would presumably apply to all of them.

At present, Mexicans can retire at 65, if they have worked 38 1/2 years, or 67 if they haven't. But there is no guaranteed pension payment. Apart from a few powerful unions representing government workers, there is no government pension program, though López Obrador has introduced supplementary payment programs for the elderly of a couple of hundred dollars per month.

Since the 1990s, about half of Mexicans — those with formal jobs — have been enrolled in privately-managed pension funds known as Afores to which they and their employers contribute. The other half of Mexicans, who work under the table in the ‘informal’ economy, have no pension program at all.

The formal-sector Afores program, after about 20 years of contributions, has built up about $325 billion in pension savings, and that only covers average pensions of about $290 per month — less than the minimum wage — for half the country's workforce.

To cover the whole population with something approaching a ‘full wage,’ López Obrador's program would have to increase the Afore pension fund by 2.5 times to meet the median wage, and then double it again to cover informal workers.

It seems unlikely to be achieved, so why would López Obrador propose it? It's also odd that he didn't allow his candidate, Sheinbaum, to announce the measures, given that she has been struggling to build an image as something other than his loyal follower.

The president — who built the Morena party around his own image and personality — is in fact far more interested in how he'll go down in history than building a strong or independent party. So carving in stone the path for the next administration is attractive for him, analysts say.

“López Obrador is presenting these reforms to set the path for what he thinks Claudia (Sheinbaum)'s administration should be,” wrote author and analyst Viri Ríos in the newspaper Milenio.

Mark Stevenson, The Associated Press

Mexico Goodyear workers win $4.2 million back pay in US labor rights challenge


Reuters
Mon, February 5, 2024 

The Goodyear logo is seen at a tire workshop in Caracas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Monday announced that a labor rights mediation plan at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co plant in Mexico has delivered $4.2 million in back pay to more than 1,300 current and former workers.

The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office said the successful conclusion of their "rapid response" labor rights challenge under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade also resulted in immediate wage gains for most workers at the plant through a reclassification of job categories in line with a sector-wide labor agreement.

USTR brought the challenge last May under the trade deal's factory-specific provisions to combat denials of labor rights, such as electing new unions.

A remediation plan for Goodyear's San Luis Potosi factory, which employs about 1,150 workers making vehicle tires, was agreed in July by Goodyear, and the U.S. and Mexican governments, including providing back pay to eligible workers for "failure to apply" the sector-wide labor contract.

"We look forward to seeing the union-management relationship mature and deepen at Goodyear San Luis Potosi, and throughout Mexico's rubber industry as the sector-wide agreement is implemented throughout the country," Labor Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee said in a statement.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Gaza doctor describes ordeal of detention

Updated Sun, February 4, 2024 

By Bassam Masoud and Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) -A Palestinian doctor says Israeli forces in Gaza detained him when they overran a hospital and subjected him to abuse during 45 days of captivity including sleep deprivation and constant shackling and blindfolding before releasing him last week.

Doctor Said Abdulrahman Maarouf was working at al-Ahli al-Arab hospital in Gaza City when it was surrounded by Israeli forces in December.

He described having his hands cuffed, his legs shackled and his eyes masked for the nearly seven-week duration of his imprisonment.

He said he was told to sleep in places that were covered with pebbles without a mattress, pillow or cover and with loud music blaring.

The Israeli military said it treats detainees in accordance with international law and its protocols are to treat them with dignity. "Incidents in which the guidelines were not followed will be looked into," it said in a statement.

It has previously denied targeting or abusing civilians and accuses Hamas of using hospitals for military operations, which Hamas denies.

"The torture was very severe in Israeli prison. I am a doctor. My weight was 87 kilograms. I lost, in 45 days, more than 25 kilograms. I lost my balance. I lost focus. I lost all feeling," he said.

"However you describe the suffering and the insults in prison you can never know the reality unless you lived through it," he added.

Maarouf said he has no idea where he was detained as he was blindfolded throughout his detention, and he was not sure if he was held inside or outside Gaza. He was dropped at the Kerem Shalom crossing and was picked up by the Red Cross.

Maarouf's arrest was the last moment he had news of his family, and he still does not know if they survived the onslaught as Israeli forces advanced into Gaza City under an intense artillery barrage.

The war began when Hamas militants rampaged across the border into Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking away 240 hostages.

Israel's military assault began the same day with an intense bombardment, followed later in October by a ground assault that has continued for months. Health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say Israel's offensive has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians.

As well as hospitals, Israel has said Hamas routinely uses other medical facilities including ambulances for military operations, and it has shown evidence of tunnels and some weapons at some facilities.

NO INFORMATION

Maarouf held back tears as he described his last phone conversation with his daughter as the Israeli soldiers called on loudspeakers for all doctors and medical staff to leave the hospital building.

She had been in the family home in Gaza City, one of his five children who were all there with his wife and 15 to 20 other relatives.

"Dad the bombing has reached us. What do we do?" she said to him. He replied that if he told her to stay and they were killed, or if he told her to leave and they were killed it would be torture for him.

"If you want to leave then leave. If you want to stay then stay. I'm in the same trench with you and I'm going now to the Israeli soldiers without knowing my fate," he remembered telling her.

"From that moment until today I have no information about my children or my wife," he said, crying.

The devastation in Gaza has scattered families and cut off communications, making it hard for people to reach many areas physically and unable to contact each other by phone, with most telecom networks down.

Maarouf believes he was one of more than 100 prisoners being held in the same place. "Each one of us was wishing for death... wishing to die from the severity of the suffering," he said.

He said being told to try to sleep lying on pebbles was the worst part of his experience.

"I am a paediatrician working for 23 years in this field. I did not commit any humanitarian crime. My weapon is my pen, my notebook and my stethoscope. I didn't leave the place. I was treating children inside hospitals," he said.

"When we were called to where the tanks were I thought we'd be there a few hours and leave. I thought if they took me and my colleagues they would treat us well because we are doctors and did not commit any crime," he said.

Back in Gaza, he is working again in a children's ward, a stethoscope around his neck, the sound of crying infants and the concerned whispers of parents around him once more.

(Reporting by Bassam Masoud and Ibraheem Abu Mustafa in Rafah and Henriette Chacar in Jerusalem; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Gaza doctor describes ordeal of detention
Palestinian doctor recounts ill-treatment during his detention by Israel

Pennsylvania Capitol protest against state investing in Israel bonds ends with arrests

Mon, February 5, 2024



HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Police took more than 100 people protesting the Pennsylvania state government's investments in Israel into custody Monday, shutting down a demonstration on the steps of the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg.

A spokesperson for the Department of General Services, which includes the Pennsylvania Capitol Police, said 126 people were taken into custody at what he described as an unpermitted, unauthorized demonstration. They were ordered to disperse before being arrested, issued citations for trespassing and then released, said spokesperson Troy Thompson.

Dani Noble with Jewish Voice for Peace said that by their count, 186 people were arrested.

The protestors, many wearing T-shirts that said “divest from genocide,” clapped and chanted during the protest, which organizers said was targeted at the state Treasury Department's investment in Israel bonds.

One large sign said the state should reinvest that tax money in healthcare, housing, schools and climate. There were chants of “free Palestine” before and after they were arrested.

The event was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, the Philly Palestine Coalition and the Pennsylvania Council on American-Islamic Relations. It began Monday morning outside the Capitol but moved to the Rotunda by early afternoon.

Lilah Saber, a participant in the protest, said it was solely focused on the state's investment in Israel bonds.

“We did not plan on being arrested, but we were arrested,” Saber said.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Republican, said state treasurers of both parties have invested in Israel bonds for more than 30 years. The state's share of Israel bonds rose by $20 million after the Hamas attack that began the war in Gaza and is currently $56 million, Garrity said in a statement released by her office.

The state also holds about $8 million in other Israel-based securities. Together with the $56 million, that amounts to about 0.14% of the funds the Treasury Department actively manages, Garrity said.

Mark Scolforo, The Associated Press

Grammys Carpet Faced Stalled Arrivals Due to Pro-Palestine Protest; Annie Lennox Calls For Ceasefire During Performance


J. Kim Murphy
Sun, February 4, 2024 

The red carpet outside the Grammy Awards faced stalled arrivals as a protest in support of Palestine and an end to Israel’s ongoing attack on Gaza gathered in downtown Los Angeles outside the Crypto.com Arena.

Footage from the protest was posted on social media Sunday evening, shared with the hashtag #ShutItDown4Palestine. Sources operating the event also inform Variety that the group was blocking individuals from getting into the venue.

“Right now: Hundreds in LA rally and prepare to march outside the Grammy Awards for Palestine. A little rain won’t deter the movement!” the Party for Socialism and Liberation wrote in a post on social media, sharing footage from the event.

The Recording Academy could not be immediately reached for comment regarding the protest. Regardless, the Grammy Awards ceremony began promptly at the scheduled time of 5 p.m., along with the CBS broadcast of the event.

The political messages didn’t stop there. During the Grammys, Annie Lennox paid tribute to Sinéad O’Connor during a lengthy in memoriam segment, in which she covered the late musician’s signature song, “Nothing Compares 2 U.” At the end of the performance, Lennox lifted her left hand and said, “Artists for ceasefire, peace in the world.”

Lennox later elaborated on her statement during the ceremony with a post on social media, stating that she is “neither anti-Semitic nor pro-Hamas” but that “the value of life has been reduced less to zero” in the conflict.

“I fail to see how any of this has done anything to contribute to a peaceful solution and am heartbroken for everyone who has been victimised by this ever unfolding tragedy,” Lennox wrote.

The rainy day protest in Los Angeles was just one of several across the United States on Sunday in support of Shut It Down 4 Palestine. Since Israel launched an ongoing military attack against Gaza, retaliating against the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, protests calling for a ceasefire in the conflict have regularly continued across the globe. Per a new poll by the Associated Press, half of American adults believe that Israel’s military campaign in the region has “gone too far.”

The war in Gaza has displaced more than 85% of the region’s population. The death toll has climbed above 27,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

'Perfect choice' to 'disturbing': NHL All-Star anthem singer's pro-Palestinian attire in Toronto spurs debate

Kiana Ledé sang the U.S. national anthem ahead of the game on Saturday while wearing a keffiyeh-style sweater.


Chris Stoodley
·Lifestyle and News Editor
Sun, February 4, 2024 

A singer's pro-Palestinian attire at the NHL All-Star game in Toronto on Saturday is causing some division on social media.

Kiana Ledé performed the American national anthem ahead of the match at the Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 3 wearing a black and white sweater that resembled a Palestinian keffiyeh.

But following the performance, a director for the Pacific chapter of the Jewish National Fund of Canada — an organization that "is building the foundations for Israel's future, according to its website — called out the NHL on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Michael Sachs called Ledé an "interesting choice of singer" for the event, asking the NHL, "Is there not a vetting process in place?"

In the post, which has been viewed more than 500,000 times as of Sunday afternoon, he included a screenshot of a post Ledé shared on her own account in December about future concerts. In that post, she urged fans to come to her shows wearing any sign they can to support Palestinians, ending the note saying "if you're a Zionist, feel free to stay your a— at home."

Some X users were questioning why Sachs had an issue with the singer's choice of clothing.

Others sided with Sachs on the incident, with some also calling out the NHL.

On her Instagram Stories, Ledé shared she was "given this cardigan" from a British brand called ANZ at one of her London shows. The brand, founded by Ainy Naim, reinvents heritage knitwear and creates a "Palestine Forever" line with clothing donning statements like "free Palestine" and "Palestine is freeing us."

"I never wanna take it off," Ledé — who has often been vocal about her support for Palestine in the past — added in her post on Saturday.