Canadian Arab News
March 16, 2006

Edward Greenspon’s reaction to Marcus Gee’s plagiarism has been lamentably predictable, and indicative of the declining calibre of the Globe and Mail—deny and duck for cover.

Clearly, the paper’s integrity counts for nothing when Israel’s main mouthpiece is under fire. I sent Greenspon an e-mail in which I asked the following three questions:

“1) What steps is the Globe taking against Gee not only for plagiarism but for abusing his position to disseminate anti-Arab/pro-Israel propaganda in a Globe editorial?
“2) When will the Globe issue an apology disavowing the Feb. 15 editorial?
“3) What reforms will the Globe undertake to assure readers that its editorials and reporting on the Middle East is not contaminated by zionist propaganda?”

Here is his reply:

Dear Mr. Felton:
I find it odd that you would think criticism of a “duly elected government” [Hamas] of any stripe amounts to defamation. We regularly criticize the Canadian government; that’s part of our job. We criticize many governments, the Palestinian and Israeli ones included. I’m afraid I do not see a scandal here, although perhaps I do see an agenda.
That is my response.
Thank you for inquiring,
Ed Greenspon

Notice how Greenspon misrepresents my questions and then feebly tries to feign editorial balance. The issue is not criticism, but plagiarism, lying and subversion—none of which appears to concern him. Greenspon does not see a scandal because he chooses not to see one. If he has any ethical standards, he hides them well.

***

Since Gee’s Feb. 15 fulmination came out, the Toronto Star uncovered further proof of Gee’s dishonesty. On March 10, it ran a clarification of Antonia Zerbisias’s Feb. 28 report of the matter that included the following: “The [Globe] editorial urged the federal government to withhold aid from the newly elected Hamas government until Hamas renounced terrorism and recognized Israel's right to exist.”

Gee based this conclusion on the “video” he lifted from the zionist website Palestinian Media Watch. The Star goes on to say: “The PMW’s source for the video was a site classified as one of hundreds of Hamas supporter sites and not as an official Hamas site.…”

Therefore, not only did Gee mislead readers about the source of the video, but he also defamed, not “criticized,” the Palestinian government by false association.

Greenspon may have no problem with plagiarism, libel and defamation in the name of Israel but I do. Anyone who agrees Gee should be fired should call 1-416-585-5300 or e-mail egreenspon@globeandmail.ca.