Sherazi: Demonization leads to hateful attacks such as Monday's OC Transpo bus incident
This week, news broke of four Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli forces. Among them was Anas Al-Sharif, a reporter whose raw footage and emotional dispatches had touched viewers globally. He shared stories under bombardment, even mourning his father's death on camera. Within 24 hours of his death, Israeli officials claimed he was a member of Hamas, without presenting transparent evidence.
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To smear a journalist posthumously, especially one who had criticized Hamas publicly, feels less like fact-finding and more like a warning. These accusations don't stay online, they bleed into real life. They dehumanize communities, discredit truth-tellers, and make violence more likely.
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The Committee to Protect Journalists reports 192 journalists killed and 90 imprisoned since October 2023. Many are branded 'biased' or 'terrorists.' It's a dangerous trend, one that silences facts, crushes dissent and emboldens hate.
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Here in Ottawa and elsewhere we have seen protesters about the war in Gaza demonized as haters for exercising their right to say they dislike what is happening to civilians in Gaza. Media images often focus on people with their faces covered, mimicking those we have seen in the Middle East in news footage.
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Nobody has connected the dots and realized that people cover their faces because they are afraid of reprisal, of being fired or doxed online. Demonization has very real consequences.
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As a community leader, I've witnessed the scarring that hate leaves behind. Since Monday, I have been in touch with the victim's family and with a witness on the bus. They're traumatized beyond belief
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But what haunts me most are the unspoken stories, the ones never reported out of fear. The victims who stay quiet to avoid re-traumatization. The youth who internalize the hate, believing maybe they deserve it, because people like them are always shown as the threat.
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To stop this cycle, we must do more than issue statements after the fact. We must challenge the narratives that fuel violence. That means protecting journalists, amplifying the truth, supporting victims, and rejecting the dehumanization of any group, Muslim, Jewish, Palestinian, or otherwise.
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