The Honest Report

In the first episode of our two-part series on the Nova Exhibition now in Canada, we spoke with Michal Ohana, a survivor of the Nova Festival massacre in southern Israel, who was shot in the leg by Hamas terrorists that day.

In today's episode, part two, we speak with Shalev Moshe. Shalev is not a survivor of the Nova massacre, but his 27 year-old brother Eden was murdered on that day. Eden was an electrical engineering student who was at the festival with four friends. All five were murdered.

We met with Shalev at the Nova Exhibition in Toronto, which he is also accompanying, and he recounted for us in harrowing detail his family's experiences on that dark day.

On April 23, the Nova Exhibition opened in Toronto. The event space is modeled after the Nova Festival, the outdoor concert in southern Israel which, on October 7, 2023, was attacked by Hamas terrorists, who proceeded to murder hundreds of mostly young attendees, and take countless more hostage.

The program is part tribute and memorial, and partly a historical record of the horrific massacre. Prior to opening, I visited with my colleague, Digital Director Rick Firth, as part of the exhibition's media day, where we saw thousands of real-items found at the site, including a child's backpack with a bullet hole, an inverted red triangle necklace found on the body of a Hamas terrorist (the same red triangle that appears at pro-Hamas rallies), and much more.

The exhibition wasn't just a static event space; traveling from Israel were also a number of people with direct connections to what happened at the Nova Festival 18 months ago. Among them was Michal Ohana. 

Michal is a young Israeli woman who was at the festival on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists shot her in the leg, yet she miraculously survived the ordeal. I spoke with Michal about what happened to her that day, and she joined us as our guest this week.

Next week we will speak to another individual visiting Canada as part of the Nova Exhibition.

Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas' massacres on October 7, 2023, the world heard and saw the stories of the Israeli hostages who were ripped from their homes and forcibly brought to Gaza.

But after 18 months, their stories are all but ignored, even as dozens of them remain trapped in the hell that is Hamas captivity.

Maureen Leshem knows that reality all too well. The Toronto woman is a cousin of Romi Gonen, who was among those kidnapped and shot 18 months ago, and released earlier this year as part of a hostage-prisoner exchange.

Given her close proximity to the plight of hostages, Maureen has harsh words for the failure of the news media to tell the stories of those kidnapped.

Another tumultuous academic year is coming to a close for college and university students across Canada, with pro-Hamas groups continuing their efforts to harass and intimidate students and to silence opponents.

How has the last year looked on Canadian campuses? Has anything changed since the previous year, and what has been the impact on the majority of students who do not share the pro-Hamas extremism of these anti-Israel groups?

To give us a behind-the-scenes look, we are joined by Daniel Koren. He is the executive director of Allied Voices for Israel, or AVI, an organization which unites students of all backgrounds against anti-Jewish hatred.Daniel joins us as our guest this week.

Following the Hamas-Israel war, the Canadian government has offered 5,000 temporary resident visas to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

While offering sanctuary from warzones is a largely noncontroversial topic, in Gaza, which is ruled by a banned terrorist entity and where radicalism remains high, there are significant concerns about whether Ottawa can, or will, ensure proper vetting is taking place so that extremists and Hamas supporters cannot land on Canadian soil.

Despite the significance of these concerns for Canadians, the news media has remained almost entirely silent on this matter, leaving it up to immigration lawyers like Betsy Kane, part of a group called Lawyers For Secure Immigration, to raise awareness about this.

Betsy joins us as our guest this week.

Faezeh Alavi, an Iranian-born researcher and artist based in London, is challenging the narratives imposed by the Iranian regime by openly advocating for dialogue between Iranians and Israelis. Alavi is also a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic, believing that reshaping relationships with Israel is key for a successful future for 90 million Iranians.

Despite facing backlash and violent threats, including a group of screaming protesters during an appearance by Alavi in London recently, she has not relented from her pursuit of dialogue and relations.

Faezeh joins us as our guest this week to help us understand her motivations and as she introduces us to the reality that the vast majority of Iranians are eager for relations with Israel.

While small in size, anti-Israel rallies over the last 17 months have become extraordinarily successful in gaining coverage from the news media. But these rallies, far from being general marches for peace in the Middle East, have been largely characterized by support for Palestinian terrorism, glorification of violence and the hateful rejection of Israel.

But rather than exposing these pro-Hamas rallies to Canadians, most Canadian news media outlets have instead given them largely sympathetic coverage, whitewashing their most extreme elements.

To help us understand what this looks like, we are joined in this week's podcast by Tristin Hopper. He is a reporter and columnist at the National Post, and an outspoken critic of coverage of these demonstrations.

Over the last 16 months, many corners of the Canadian news media have portrayed Israeli society in very broad, generic terms, frequently depicting them, or at least large swathes of them, as seeking to-settle Gaza, for example, and to expel Gazans.

But hardly surprisingly, it turns out that such views are remarkably marginal in Israel, though news coverage has suggested otherwise. In so doing, news outlets have framed Israelis as being extremist and fanatical, when the reality is very different.

To help us wade through the truth about Israelis, and what much of the Canadian news media either doesn't know or otherwise has shown little interest in explaining, we are joined by Yair Ettinger. He is an Israeli journalist with a focus on religion in Israeli society, a former fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and the author of the book Frayed: The disputes unraveling religious Zionists.

Yair joins us as our guest this week.

In the late 1940s, nearly a million people indigenous to the Middle East were effectively exiled from their homes and faced violent repression, simply for who they were.

But if you think their story has been told by the news media, think again. They were Jews from Arab lands and Iran, numbering some 800,000 strong. And although their stories vary, their history is as relevant today as it was 75 years ago.

To help us delve deeper into these Jews and their largely untold story, we are joined by Martin Himel. Martin is an award-winning filmmaker, and he joins us to discuss his new film, The Forgotten Exodus: Jews from Arab Lands, which tells the story that the news media has forgotten.

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Recent months have seen a number of people in Canada suspected of planning mass casualty terrorist attacks identified, from a father and son allegedly members of the Islamic State, to a man attempting to cross into the United States from Quebec, allegedly trying to bomb a Jewish centre in Brooklyn.

So what exactly is happening behind the scenes on the legislative, legal and other levels to strengthen Canadians against extremism and terrorism?

To help give us an inside look, we are joined by Sheryl Saperia. She is the chief executive of Secure Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to combating terrorism and extremism by creating innovative and transformative laws, policies, and alliances that strengthen Canada’s national security and democracy.