By framing the story as a diplomatic disagreement between U.S. and Israeli officials, AP and therefore CTV removed the onus of attention from the most important fact: the annexation vote is part of an ongoing pattern of illegal settlement expansion and de facto annexation of the Palestinian territories.
To the CTV News newsroom,
I am writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East regarding your article titled: “Vance criticizes Israel’s parliament vote on West Bank annexation, says the move was an ‘insult’.”
The article states that “U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized on Thursday a symbolic vote in Israel’s parliament the previous day about annexing the occupied West Bank, saying it amounted to an “insult” and went against the Trump administration policies.”
The piece reports on a bill applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, an act of annexation of Palestinian territory, as if it were a weather report - omitting any mention of the bill’s illegality.
Annexation is illegal under international law. The United Nations Charter (Chapter 1, Article 2) clearly states that “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
By framing the story as a diplomatic disagreement between U.S. and Israeli officials, AP and therefore CTV removed the onus of attention from the most important fact: the annexation vote is part of an ongoing pattern of illegal settlement expansion and de facto annexation of the Palestinian territories.
I urge you to include this essential context in the name of accurate and fair reporting.
Second, the article mentions that “the Palestinians seek the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future independent state.”
This language is highly misleading and falls short of the ethical standards expected in responsible journalism.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) made it clear that Israel has been “occupying” the Palestinian territories:
The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful …. This illegality relates to the entirety of the Palestinian territory “occupied” by Israel in 1967.
The use of “captured” vs “occupied” misleads readers into thinking that Israel has a legitimate claim to Palestinian territories, rather than acknowledging its illegal occupation.
Given that AP is a wire service providing articles to numerous Canadian media outlets, I call on CTV News to rigorously scrutinize and revise, as necessary, any misleading language sourced from AP. I also urge both newsrooms to correct this mischaracterization now and in future coverage by using language consistent with international law and journalistic ethics. Media outlets should not be complicit in enabling the kind of language that softens Israel’s illegal colonization of Palestinian land.
Lynn Naji
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East