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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) newsreader Neil Herland was reportedly pulled off the air and faced an internal investigation after posting a video of an anti-Israel protest outside a synagogue service last week.
Herland documented himself attempting to enter a service held by The Song Shul at the Meridian Arts Centre that was protested by about two dozen demonstrators holding signs and noisemakers while chanting, “Free, Free Palestine.”
“I’m a journalist. And I happen to be Jewish. On Yom Kippur I went to a synagogue service in Toronto and was met by protesters trying to taunt and intimidate me from entering the building,” Herland wrote on X.
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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) newsreader Neil Herland recorded footage of an anti-Israel protest outside a synagogue service. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via AP)
In the video, a man shouted “Zionist alert” as Herland approached the building, and Herland was accosted by a man shouting, “You’re going to hell” for attending the service, which featured Israeli diplomat and former Benjamin Netanyahu advisor Mark Regev as a speaker.
In follow-up comments, Herland emphasized his growing concerns that Canada itself may no longer be safe for Jewish people.
“My late father was an Austrian Jew who survived the Holocaust in Romania. And came to Canada as a refugee. This year I got an Austrian passport, in case Canada becomes unsafe for me as a Jew. I fear that moment is approaching, here in Canada and elsewhere,” Herland wrote.
“Jewish Canadians are living in a parallel world,” he added. “Where police stand guard with guns outside synagogues. And Jewish schools, religious sites and businesses are targeted with bullets. And most Canadians have no awareness or understanding.”
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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reportedly launched an investigation into Herland after receiving complaints about his video. (iStock)
The video has since received 3.8 million views.
After Herland posted his comments, The Toronto Sun reported Thursday that the veteran journalist was pulled from his on-air job and informed that he would be investigated based on complaints made to the company. Herland himself has not posted anything from his X account since Friday.
Though it is unclear what complaints could have led to this decision, the organization Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) encouraged followers on X to send in complaints, claiming that Herland was purposefully misleading people about the situation.
“On September 21, @CBC National Radio News Reader @NEWSneil Neil Herland posted on X that was ‘met by [pro-Palestine] protesters trying to taunt and intimidate [him] from entering [a synagogue service in Toronto].’ He shared an accompanying video of Palestine solidarity protesters.”
“However, Herland was on his way to the Meridian Arts Centre, not a synogogue, to see Mark Regev. Regev was not merely a teacher and former Israeli ambassador, but served in multiple high-ranking positions in the Israeli government, including as the Prime Minister’s Senior Advisor for Foreign Affairs and International Communications and the International Spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office,” the CJPME’s post read.
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The post continued, “The reality is that Herland was telling a demonstrable lie to defame pro-Palestine activists. Join us in writing to the Values and Ethics Commissioner for CBC/Radio-Canada, Sherry Perreault, to express serious concerns about apparent ethics violations by Neil Herland.”
When reached for comment, CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson told Fox News Digital that CBC would not comment on the matter but claimed that reporting has been filled with “errors and mischaracterizations.”
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East filed a complaint to the CBC about Herland’s video. (Attila Husejnow/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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“Fully respecting the privacy rights of our employees, we don’t comment on internal matters. That said, we are aware of reporting on this matter which has errors and mischaracterizations but we can’t get into the specifics given the confidentiality of the situation,” Thompson said.