"The Palestinians have proven without a doubt by enduring 600 days of bombing, a campaign of mass starvation, and 75 years of occupation that they love life and have dreams like you and me. Your article would be more balanced and fairer if you shared their perspectives and their dreams for a future free from occupation, in which they have the right to self determination."
June 5, 2025
Dear Melanie Lidman, Natalie Melzer and Wafaa Shurafa,
I am writing to express my concerns regarding a recent article published in The Canadian Press on Thursday, June 5, 2025 entitled Israel says it has recovered the bodies of 2 Israeli-American hostages from the Gaza Strip, which demonstrates inconsistent framing, clear bias and very little balance.
The article is full of loaded language that that perpetuate stereotypes, and incite hatred towards the Palestinians people meanwhile the Israelis narrative is presented as fact with no scrutiny despite Israel’s documented history of lying about their actions and intentions.
The article states: “The couple were taking an early morning walk near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed across the border and rampaged through several army bases and farming communities.” Words like "militant", “stormed” and “rampaged” are highly-charged and sensational.
In contrast, the account of Israel’s actions—which many NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, MSF, and Amnesty International, are calling a genocide—are delivered in a neutral and detached tone with justification: “Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday meanwhile killed at least 22 people, including three local journalists who were in the courtyard of a hospital, according to health officials in the territory. The military said it targeted a militant in that strike.”
In addition to toning down Israel’s mass slaughter of at least 52,000 Palestinians, including 14,000 children, the article neglects to provide context of Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine, blockade of Gaza, or recurring violence against the Palestinian people. In fact, the Palestinian perspective is noticeably absent.
The two Israeli-Americans whose bodies were retrieved are humanized as peaceful, agrarian community members who loved life without mentioning that they lived in a kibbutz that was built on land attacked by the Haganah militia Al Ma’in on May 14, 1948 as part of the Nakba.
The Israeli government of Ben Gurion brought in armored vehicles to destroy and burn homes and schools and slaughter anyone who resisted so that Americans Judith and Gad could live their retirement dreams on stolen land. What is happening today is merely a continuation of an ongoing policy to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians from their land.
The Palestinians have proven without a doubt by enduring 600 days of bombing, a campaign of mass starvation, and 75 years of occupation that they love life and have dreams like you and me. Your article would be more balanced and fairer if you shared their perspectives and their dreams for a future free from occupation, in which they have the right to self determination.
Such unbalanced journalistic framing exposes the hypocrisy of Western media, while actively enabling Israel's unimpeded commission of war crimes and collective punishment against Palestinians.
I urge you to take steps to address these issues in this article and future coverage and I welcome a response to my concerns.
Sincerely,
Nikki Mutch
Volunteer
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East