Calgary city councillor Courtney Walcott has been rebuked by media watchdog Honest Reporting Canada (HRC) for his call for a ceasefire between the Hamas Islamic extremist group and Israel. Walcott published his opinion in a November 8 column in the Calgary Herald where he claimed a ceasefire would be the best “diplomatic” solution to the war in the Middle East, which has been raging since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The media watchdog “takes issue” with Walcott’s call for a so-called “diplomatic solution," pointing out that "prior to Hamas’ massacre on October 7, there was a ceasefire in place between Hamas and Israel, which Hamas broke.""Israel does not have the luxury of minimizing Hamas’ deadly threat to the country," HRC wrote, "and consequently has no choice but to keep fighting the Islamic terrorist group until it can no longer pose a danger to Israeli civilians."The city councillor equated the acts of Hamas and Israel and proposed a ceasefire was the only way forward — for the region and around the world, even at home in Calgary. “An immediate ceasefire to end the violence, a release of all captives and a diplomatic process unapologetically anchored in international human rights and international law is the only path toward any lasting peace,” Walcott wrote. “Just as we must call out acts of violent terror that target civilians, so too must we call out the outrageous starving and bombing of civilians.”“Palestinians have a right to live, just like everyone else,” he wrote. “We cannot allow ourselves to retreat to such simplistic and dehumanizing narratives.”“I encourage all to add their voice to the calls for a ceasefire.”Walcott said it was also the way forward for Calgarians.“Here in Calgary, we must support each other in this moment. We must stand up for each other, for our shared humanity, and reject dangerous rhetoric that threatens to further entrench us in conflict," said Walcott.On Saturday, HRC Executive Director Mike Fegelman published a rebuttal breaking down the reasons why a ceasefire is impossible with Hamas, citing how Walcott’s “(presumably) good intentions” lead to “dangerous conclusions.”Fegelman criticized Walcott’s framing of the Hamas-Israel war as “a two-sided conflict with two seemingly comparable parties.” “This comparison is not only rife with falsehoods, it is also a stunning false equivalence between Hamas, a genocidal Islamic terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel and to replace it with an Islamic theocracy, and Israel, a liberal democracy that, despite its many flaws, has a right and indeed a responsibility to protect itself against Hamas’ heinous genocidal attempts,” the media watchdog wrote. “Israel is not starving civilians. Although Israel has targeted Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, many hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks have entered the enclave, providing food, medicine and other needed provisions to civilians,” he wrote. “Hamas declared war on Israel just over a month ago, massacring 1,400 innocent people and taking hundreds more people hostage.”“Hamas doesn’t just harm civilians; it massacres them, intentionally and gleefully, as demonstrated in the video footage taken from Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel on October 7.”“Against Hamas, which will never stop its genocidal war against Israel, there is no ‘diplomatic solution,’” he wrote. “This is not an opinion, but fact.”He pointed out that Hamas senior official Ghazi Hamad told Lebanese media in October Hamas "will not stop until Israel is annihilated, and it will carry out more massacres.”“There is no decision or policy choice that Israel could possibly make that would make Hamas cease its war against Israel. To Hamas, every square inch of Israel is ‘occupied’ territory, and every single Jew in Israel, no matter how young, is a legitimate target for torture and murder.”
Calgary city councillor Courtney Walcott has been rebuked by media watchdog Honest Reporting Canada (HRC) for his call for a ceasefire between the Hamas Islamic extremist group and Israel. Walcott published his opinion in a November 8 column in the Calgary Herald where he claimed a ceasefire would be the best “diplomatic” solution to the war in the Middle East, which has been raging since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The media watchdog “takes issue” with Walcott’s call for a so-called “diplomatic solution," pointing out that "prior to Hamas’ massacre on October 7, there was a ceasefire in place between Hamas and Israel, which Hamas broke.""Israel does not have the luxury of minimizing Hamas’ deadly threat to the country," HRC wrote, "and consequently has no choice but to keep fighting the Islamic terrorist group until it can no longer pose a danger to Israeli civilians."The city councillor equated the acts of Hamas and Israel and proposed a ceasefire was the only way forward — for the region and around the world, even at home in Calgary. “An immediate ceasefire to end the violence, a release of all captives and a diplomatic process unapologetically anchored in international human rights and international law is the only path toward any lasting peace,” Walcott wrote. “Just as we must call out acts of violent terror that target civilians, so too must we call out the outrageous starving and bombing of civilians.”“Palestinians have a right to live, just like everyone else,” he wrote. “We cannot allow ourselves to retreat to such simplistic and dehumanizing narratives.”“I encourage all to add their voice to the calls for a ceasefire.”Walcott said it was also the way forward for Calgarians.“Here in Calgary, we must support each other in this moment. We must stand up for each other, for our shared humanity, and reject dangerous rhetoric that threatens to further entrench us in conflict," said Walcott.On Saturday, HRC Executive Director Mike Fegelman published a rebuttal breaking down the reasons why a ceasefire is impossible with Hamas, citing how Walcott’s “(presumably) good intentions” lead to “dangerous conclusions.”Fegelman criticized Walcott’s framing of the Hamas-Israel war as “a two-sided conflict with two seemingly comparable parties.” “This comparison is not only rife with falsehoods, it is also a stunning false equivalence between Hamas, a genocidal Islamic terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel and to replace it with an Islamic theocracy, and Israel, a liberal democracy that, despite its many flaws, has a right and indeed a responsibility to protect itself against Hamas’ heinous genocidal attempts,” the media watchdog wrote. “Israel is not starving civilians. Although Israel has targeted Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, many hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks have entered the enclave, providing food, medicine and other needed provisions to civilians,” he wrote. “Hamas declared war on Israel just over a month ago, massacring 1,400 innocent people and taking hundreds more people hostage.”“Hamas doesn’t just harm civilians; it massacres them, intentionally and gleefully, as demonstrated in the video footage taken from Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel on October 7.”“Against Hamas, which will never stop its genocidal war against Israel, there is no ‘diplomatic solution,’” he wrote. “This is not an opinion, but fact.”He pointed out that Hamas senior official Ghazi Hamad told Lebanese media in October Hamas "will not stop until Israel is annihilated, and it will carry out more massacres.”“There is no decision or policy choice that Israel could possibly make that would make Hamas cease its war against Israel. To Hamas, every square inch of Israel is ‘occupied’ territory, and every single Jew in Israel, no matter how young, is a legitimate target for torture and murder.”
