My main concern is with the article’s framing. By emphasizing symbolic statements of condemnation, particularly from the Israeli President, the article whitewashes the material reality, especially given the well-documented role of the Israeli army in directly participating in, enabling, and protecting these attacks.
To the Globe and Mail and AP newsrooms,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) regarding your recent article titled: “Israel’s President condemns attack by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in West Bank” which highlights the “unusually strong” condemnation from Israeli officials after settlers torched a mosque in Deir Istiya - burning a wall, several copies of the Qur’an, the carpeting, and defacing the building with racist graffiti. This attack is not an isolated event; it is part of a decades-long, systematic campaign of settler violence that has intensified year after year across the occupied West Bank.
My main concern is with the article’s framing. By emphasizing symbolic statements of condemnation, particularly from the Israeli President, the article whitewashes the material reality, especially given the well-documented role of the Israeli army in directly participating in, enabling, and protecting these attacks.
On September 7, 2025, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir personally joined the storming of the West Bank city of Umm al-Fahm alongside the Israeli police and border police. This is the same minister who has openly advocated for executing Palestinians and was filmed handing out sweets after the Knesset advanced a bill to permit such executions on Monday.
Without this context, the narrative of the article privileges rhetorical condemnation over the material reality of Israeli settler violence, violence that is routinely supported, shielded, advocated, and intensified by powerful Israeli officials and the army. This leaves readers with the false impression that settler attacks are aberrations opposed by Israeli authorities, when in fact they are enabled by the occupation.
I urge future coverage to add the essential context that Israeli settler attacks unfold within an apartheid system where senior Israeli officials, armed settlers, and occupation forces operate in tandem to enable them.
Lynn Naji
Media Analyst
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East