{"id":10610,"date":"2025-07-20T13:49:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T17:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=10610"},"modified":"2025-07-20T13:51:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T17:51:57","slug":"long-arm-of-israel-inflicts-threats-hacking-rcmp-investigation-on-canadian-journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=10610","title":{"rendered":"Long Arm of Israel Inflicts Threats, Hacking & RCMP Investigation on Canadian Journalist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Israel\u2019s defenders want me jailed<\/a>By The Maple Staff \u2022 19 Jul 2025View in browser<\/a><\/td> <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>This isn\u2019t a typical email. <\/strong>It\u2019s an update on what\u2019s happening behind the scenes at The Maple. Below, opinion editor Davide Mastracci shares how he\u00a0found himself investigated by the RCMP<\/strong>, simply for doing journalism.

A couple months ago, we revealed that The Maple had been the target of a campaign to take us offline. Today, I can tell you the campaign has escalated, with critics wanting me in prison.\u00a0<\/strong>In February, I published\u00a0Find IDF Soldiers<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 a database of Canadians who have joined the Israeli military, based entirely on public information. With a list of 163 current and former IDF soldiers, it\u2019s the largest in Canada, and offers rare insight into this group.Israel\u2019s supporters have tried everything to get the site taken down, including hacking, suspension demands, discussing lawsuits, email campaigns, a multi-country media assault and death threats.

\u00a0I recently learned something even more troubling: the RCMP investigated me.<\/strong>Documents I obtained show that someone complained to the RCMP about the project and called for me to be charged. The RCMP received the bogus complaint, screened it and rather than deciding to end things there, chose to investigate.They assigned an analyst to the complaint, who then ran my name through law enforcement databases, searched for information about me online and compiled a report.Unsurprisingly, the RCMP concluded I wasn\u2019t a threat to \u201cnational security,\u201d and that my journalism didn\u2019t break any laws.\u00a0

But the damage was done. My name is now in a police database used by at least 25 law enforcement agencies across Canada.<\/strong>Experts say this could follow me for years, and that it sends a message to other journalists: reporting on the wrong topic may land you in a police database. It\u2019s chilling.Most journalists would stop here.I\u2019m not one of them.\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve spent years writing about Palestine. If threats and intimidation tactics were going to stop me, it would\u2019ve happened a long time ago.And thankfully, I work at a publication that isn\u2019t vulnerable to pressure the way most outlets are.

The Maple doesn\u2019t depend on funding from advertisers, grants or major donors that can be scared off. That makes us hard to intimidate \u2014 but only if we have readers backing us.If we\u2019re going to keep publishing this sort of work, we need to be able to withstand the tough moments that defang other publications. If we have you on our side, we can.If you believe in what we\u2019re doing \u2014 fearless, independent journalism that can\u2019t be bullied \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0then consider becoming a Maple member. Every membership is a lifeline. And if we\u2019re going to keep publishing, we need more of them.<\/u><\/strong><\/a>

Because, the thing is, the threat isn\u2019t over.\u00a0I\u2019m waiting on very overdue ATIP requests from CSIS, Ontario\u2019s Solicitor General and Toronto Police. I don\u2019t know what they\u2019ll return, but I\u2019m increasingly confident these agencies and departments looked into me because of complaints from powerful Israel supporters about my journalism.If that ends up being the case, we may have to finally hire a criminal lawyer.<\/strong>\u00a0They\u2019ve been willing to help me pro bono so far, but that can\u2019t last forever.And if we want to keep publishing, we need to be ready \u2014 not scrambling after the fact.Your support doesn\u2019t just help us do the journalism we want to \u2014 it helps protect it, and protect us. It ensures I can move forward with this work without being afraid. It makes me feel confident that you\u2019ll have my back should anything happen.If you believe in independent journalism that won\u2019t cower \u2014 even when it\u2019s under attack \u2014 I hope you\u2019ll support it.\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/a>Already a member? Thank you. Your support has kept us alive, and I hope you\u2019ll stay with us. If you\u2019re in a place to do more,\u00a0you can also make a one-time donation here<\/u><\/a>.\u2014 Davide Mastracci
Opinion editor, The Maple<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel\u2019s defenders want me jailedBy The Maple Staff \u2022 19 Jul 2025View in browser     This isn\u2019t a typical email. It\u2019s an update on what\u2019s happening behind the scenes at The Maple. Below, opinion editor Davide Mastracci shares how he\u00a0found … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[363,6004,5675,6005,6002,270],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10611,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10610\/revisions\/10611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}