Since Israel’s latest bombing of Gaza began earlier this month, Israel has:

  • Killed more than 5,087 Palestinians, including at least 2,055 children 
  • Injured more than 15,273 Palestinians
  • Enforced a siege on Gaza that has included cutting off food, water and electricity
  • Caused more than 1 million Gazans to flee their homes
  • Used white phosphorus on Gazans repeatedly

Israel’s operation has won support — both before it kicked off and since — from a range of media columnists, editorial boards, hosts and panellists in Canada. I’ve compiled the names of these media figures, as well as their positions and relevant quotes from them. In order to qualify, the person in question must have gone beyond merely claiming Israel has ‘a right to defend itself.’

Here are the media figures included thus far: Conrad Black | Andrew Coyne | Rosie DiManno | Terry Glavin | Globe and Mail Editorial Board | Brian Goldman | Matt Gurney | Barbara Kay | Tasha Kheiriddin |Warren Kinsella | Anthony Koch | National Post Editorial Board | Joe Oliver | Harry Rakowski | Jamie Sarkonak | Toronto Sun Editorial Board | Konrad Yakabuski

This article, including the stats above, will be updated going forward.

Conrad Black

  • Position: National Post columnist
  • Quote: “While one may hope, and we may probably be confident, that Israel will avoid unnecessary collateral damage to apparently unoffending people in Gaza, Israel has a blank cheque and an entire justification to enact its own permanent solution to those who would murder all the Jews.”
  • Source: National Post
  • Date: October 14

Andrew Coyne

  • Position: Globe and Mail columnist
  • Quote: “The people we are fighting now are not interested in debating us. They do not want to compete with us, to compare their merits and demerits with our own. They want to destroy us. So the atrocities in Israel are a watershed moment, as 9/11 was – a test of our ability, not just to reason clearly about fundamental moral questions, but to stand up for ourselves: to understand the moral case for the West, and to act on that conviction.”
  • Source: The Globe and Mail
  • Date: October 12

Rosie DiManno

  • Position: Toronto Star columnist
  • Quote: “Evisceration of Hamas must be achieved. […] Every civilized nation, every civilized international leader, has proclaimed Israel’s right to defend itself muscularly against the rampage inflicted by Hamas and its aftermath. […] Civilians will die in great numbers. Palestinian babies will die.”
  • Source: Toronto Star
  • Date: October 13

Terry Glavin

  • Position: Ottawa Citizen and National Post columnist
  • Quote: “Ever since 1967, the UN Relief Works Agency has either deliberately or inadvertently encouraged in Palestinians the delusion that their predicament is merely temporary, that one day the Jews would be driven into the sea. That delusion has to be broken now. Israel has no choice. Breaking it will be horrifically bloody, but the UN member states have left the ‘Palestinian problem’ a matter for Israel to deal with. And it’s exceedingly difficult to see what options are available to Israel except to finally abandon the triangulations, the management of terror, the 3D Chess, the routine assaults on terror strongholds in the West Bank and Gaza - the whole thing - and smash it to bits.”
  • Source: Substack
  • Date: October 10

Globe and Mail Editorial Board

  • Quote: “Affirmations and solidarity are easy enough at the moment, but they will become more difficult to sustain as Israel begins to uproot Hamas from the Gaza Strip, as it must, and recover the hostages seized by the terrorist organization, if it can. [...] Israel has the right to defend itself, even if the exercise of that right results in collateral civilian casualties.”
  • Source: The Globe and Mail
  • Date: October 10

Brian Goldman

  • Position: Host of CBC show White Coat, Black Art
  • Quote: “Now that the world knows that Hamas terrorists brutally killed and decapitated innocent civilians, Israel has every right as a sovereign nation to eradicate this threat on its doorstep.”

    A Twitter user replied: “Not via collective punishment, though - that isn’t justice for anyone.”

    Goldman then responded: “Collective punishment is a loaded political term. Have you seen the atrocities Hamas has committed? How do you suggest dealing with Hamas?”
  • Source: Twitter (since deleted)
  • Date: October 11

Matt Gurney

  • Position: Co-founder of The Line and former National Post columnist and editor
  • Quote: “Hamas’s tactical level victory is going to bring down — rightfully — the largest Israeli military response of my lifetime, I suspect.”
  • Source: Twitter
  • Date: October 7

Barbara Kay

  • Position: National Post columnist
  • Quote: “Israel does not *want* to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Israel *needs* to cleanse Gaza of Hamas to stop their genocidal action.”
  • Source: Twitter
  • Date: October 11

Tasha Kheiriddin

  • Position: National Post columnist
  • Quote: “But Hamas has left Israel with no option but annihilating the threat to its existence. [...] We either stand with Israel, or we stand with terrorists. It really is that simple.”
  • Source: National Post
  • Date: October 10

Warren Kinsella

  • Position: Postmedia columnist
  • Quote: “Israel, even more than the United States, knows that one does not fund and maintain an army for show. You do so to use it when you have to. And Israel now must. Cellphones notwithstanding, it must enter Gaza and drive Hamas and its ilk into the sea. It must wipe them off the face of the Earth. It must show no mercy.”
  • Source: Toronto Sun
  • Date: October 10

Anthony Koch

  • Position: Panellist on CBC Power & Politics 
  • Quote: “There’s no real other option now, the IDF has to invade Gaza, and there needs to be remarkably severe consequences.”
  • Source: Twitter
  • Date: October 7

National Post Editorial Board

  • Quote: “Canada needs to express its unequivocal support for Israel.”
  • Source: National Post
  • Date: October 15

Joe Oliver

  • Position: National Post writer
  • Quote: “Israel is defending its sovereignty and population against depraved terrorists who massacred its citizens. That means eliminating Hamas as a military and governance menace, which cannot be achieved peacefully. Israel merits Canada’s unwavering support during the very difficult time ahead.”
  • Source: National Post
  • Date: October 10

Harry Rakowski

  • Position: National Post writer
  • Quote: “Franklin Roosevelt, responding to the Dec. 7, 1941 surprise attack by Japan on the Hawaiian islands, said it was ‘a date which will live in infamy’ and quickly declared war on Japan. He said that the U.S. ‘will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.’ Peace with Japan and prosperity followed, but only after a terrible war. Following their own day of terrorist infamy, we should expect and accept that Israel must and will do no less.”
  • Source: National Post
  • Date: October 12

Jamie Sarkonak

  • Position: National Post columnist
  • Quote: “The population has suffered, but that is an unfortunate result of Gaza’s leadership, which appears to maintain popular support despite the many problems it causes for its population. None of this is the fault of Israel.”
  • Source: National Post
  • Date: October 18

Toronto Sun Editorial Board

  • Quote: “Supporting Israel in its ongoing confrontation with Hamas, as we do, does not mean ignoring and devaluing the lives of Palestinians who are dying in the conflict.”
  • Source: Toronto Sun
  • Date: October 14

Konrad Yakabuski

  • Position: Globe and Mail columnist
  • Quote: “In demanding that Israel refrain from retaliating against Hamas outposts in Gaza, leftist politicians such as Ms. Jama engage in yet more intellectual dishonesty by calling for a ceasefire that would mostly benefit Hamas. […] But make no mistake, Hamas bears primary responsibility for putting Palestinian civilians in harm’s way. And unless Hamas renounces violence and its militants surrender their arms, Israel has no choice but to destroy its military capabilities by force.”
  • Source: The Globe and Mail
  • Date: October 13