The Media Accountability Project  

Dear Editors of the Toronto Star and the Associated Press,

I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to express serious concern regarding your publication of the AP wire article titled, “Israeli military orders immediate evacuations in southern Lebanon as strikes on Beirut intensify,” published on March 4, 2026.

First, I take issue with the headline. By focusing on Israeli evacuation orders and strikes, the headline obscures the most essential fact of this developing story which is that Israel has invaded southern Lebanon, in clear violation of Lebanese sovereignty. A headline that centers Israeli military directives rather than the act of cross-border invasion misleads readers about the nature of the escalation. I urge you to revise the headline to reflect that this Israeli military operation is an invasion.

Second, I am concerned by the framing in the following paragraph:

“Lebanon was dragged early Monday into the war in the Middle East, which erupted following the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, when Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into northern Israel, triggering Israeli retaliatory airstrikes on different parts of the country that killed more than 50 people, wounded about 300 and displaced tens of thousands of people from southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs.”

While this paragraph attempts to provide contextual information on the current escalations, I believe it presents Hezbollah’s actions as the initiating cause of Lebanon’s involvement without acknowledging reports that Israel was preparing a large-scale assault against Hezbollah. According to Middle East Eye and its interview with sources in parliament, it appears that Hezbollah believed a major Israeli escalation was imminent, and claimed that their attack on Monday was a preemptive measure.

I do not expect your newsrooms to uncritically reproduce the full claims of a non-state armed group. However, journalistic standards of accuracy and fairness require that relevant perspectives be included. Omitting Hezbollah’s claims in this case, risks presenting a simplified “retaliation” angle that may not fully reflect the situation on the ground.

I would also like to address the following passage:

“Israeli authorities and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in late 2024 after the Iranian-backed militant group started firing at Israel following the war in Gaza. Despite the ceasefire, Israeli strikes killed nearly 400 people in Lebanon until Monday’s escalation.

(...)

Israeli forces withdrew from most of southern Lebanon after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the fighting in late 2024, but continued to occupy five points on the Lebanese side of the border. Israel also pressed on with near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah has been trying to rebuild its positions there.”

If your reporting acknowledges that Israeli forces continued near-daily strikes and maintained positions inside Lebanese territory, then it is essential to clearly characterize these actions as violations of the ceasefire agreement. Additionally, since the ceasefire agreement was signed on November 27, 2024, there have been over 12,000 documented Israeli violations. This context is critical, as the Israeli military has been carrying out near-daily attacks in south Lebanon since November 2024.

Given these concerns, I respectfully urge both the Associated Press and the Toronto Star to review this article, revise the headline, and incorporate the context I’ve outlined above in the article as well as future coverage of the escalations between Hezbollah and Israel.

I look forward to your response and will be closely monitoring your continued coverage in the days and weeks ahead.