Israel’s blockade of Gaza is illegal under international law but AP did not say this once in the article. Why?
To The Associated Press editorial staff and newsroom,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) about your article “Canadians among activists detained on Gaza flotilla after Israeli interception” published on May 19, 2026.
While I appreciate the information in this article I take exception to the lack of balance and selective choices of mis-leading language used by AP throughout the article.
Your article uses soft language which only serves to minimize the illegality and aggressiveness of Israel's behaviour.
The boats were not intercepted. They were illegally seized. The people on board were unarmed and defenceless civilians delivering aid to people in dire need. They were illegally kidnapped by an armed military force.
Israel’s blockade of Gaza is illegal under international law but AP did not say this once in the article. Why?
Regarding Israel’s blockade of Gaza there is a problematic line in paragraph 8. “Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment.” The characterization of Israel’s blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip is supported by authoritative international bodies, not “critics”. This misleading framing reduces established international legal conclusions to the level of subjective criticism.
The article contains 11 Israeli perspectives including quotes from Israeli representatives and a sub-headline “Israel accuses flotilla of provocation”. You also give the Israeli perspective preferential treatment by placing most of it in the first half of the article thereby influencing the reader. That’s more than the Canadian perspectives in your article which are relegated to the back half of the piece.
How do you justify this clear imbalance?
There is also an untrue statement near the end of the article, “sufficient aid is entering Gaza, with about 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entering Gaza daily.” This is absolutely false. Israel was supposed to be letting 600 trucks a day into Gaza but the reality is about 200 trucks (one third of the agreed upon amount) is actually being allowed in daily.
This should be corrected in the article immediately.
Lastly I would add that referring to this as a ceasefire is only repeating propaganda. There is no ceasefire for the Palestinians, only Israelis. It is a fake ceasefire as we can plainly see by the lack of aid trucks and the 850 dead Palestinians reported in your article. Israel is the clear owner of the vast majority of violations. This is not an equal tit for tat - both sides are to blame scenario as your article would have us believe. How many Israelis have been killed since the fake ceasefire went into effect? This should also be corrected for accuracy in your article.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to your response.
Jeff Winch