The Media Accountability Project  

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law

AP and CTV omit the important point that the Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Home demolitions and land theft are illegal and considered collective punishment. Any article about the West Bank conflict must contain this context.

To the AP and CTV Newsrooms,

I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) regarding your report on an Israeli attack in the West Bank titled, “Northern West Bank in lockdown as clashes rock villages and Israel deploys troops in Nablus” by AP published by CTV on July 24, 2026.

I want to thank you for this report and the fact that it points to the ongoing Israeli terrorism of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. However, there are some grave concerns presented by the article.

First the segment mentions what “Israel says” repeatedly but there is not a single word of perspective from a Palestinian source. This is beyond unethical and violates fundamental journalistic standards of balance and fairness. Any conflict has at least two sides yet AP and CTV report only one. This is inexcusable.

We request that this be rectified to show respect for the longstanding victims of Israeli settler and military violence, not to mention land theft.

Israeli sources dominate the article with some of the most extreme voices in Israeli society, Smotrich and Netanyahu, quoted and their hateful rhetoric is given a platform yet the Palestinians victims remain voiceless. This is a classic technique to dehumanize a group by omission. By not allowing your reader any empathy with Palestinian suffering you erase them and simultaneously humanize the Israeli aggressor. Further evidence of this is the short profile you present of Israeli Yehuda Sherman who was killed four months ago. Yet there is no profile for any of the 87 Palestinians killed since the beginning of 2026.

Lastly AP and CTV omit the important point that the Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Home demolitions and land theft are illegal and considered collective punishment. Any article about the West Bank conflict must contain this context.

We ask that you amend the article to reflect this and include this important information in future articles.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to your response.

Jeff Winch

 

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