The Media Accountability Project  

"I take issue with the language used to discuss the legal status of Israel’s colonial settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). In the article you state “Since then, more than 700,000 Israelis have moved into dozens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — which most of the world considers an obstacle to peace.” In an article by Ilan Ben Zion published by Associated Press, he states that “Most of the international community considers Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.” Just as Ilan Ben Zion mentions these two points, I believe it is important and necessary that you do."

"In the article, you state that “Hawara lies on a busy road in the northern part of the West Bank that is used by Israeli residents of nearby Jewish settlements. Many settlers carry guns.” The statement lacks context and fails to properly present the illegal nature of settlements. It also fails to capture the dynamic between incoming Jewish settlers and indigenous Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank."

CJPME wrote to the Associated Press on March 7 and March 9, 2023, regarding issues with their coverage of Israeli violence in the West Bank. Regarding three of these issues, AP stories were either updated to include accurate information and language, or the feedback was incorporated in later reporting.

1) CJPME took issue with the way that AP described Palestinians killed, which used the qualifier: “around half of them were militants.” CJPME noted that this was inaccurate and misleading, and that such language implied that their deaths were inherently justified. In subsequent AP articles, this language was first changed to "around half of them affiliated with militant groups," and later to simply and more accurately say they were “killed by Israeli fire during military arrest raids and other confrontations so far this year.”

2) The AP had originally described the settler violence in Huwara without mentioning that a Palestinian had been shot and killed, even though they did mention that two Israelis had been killed earlier in the day. After a CJPME complaint, the article was updated to include this information.

3) The AP’s article on March 6 provided an inaccurate number of illegal Israeli settlers, claiming that since 1967, “500,000 Jewish settlers have moved into dozens of settlements.” After complaints from CJPME, subsequent articles have corrected this problem to say that there are “more than 700,000 Jewish settlers.”

On February 20, 2023, the Toronto Star and other outlets published an Associated Press story with an inaccurate and misleading headline, “Israel promises not to approve additional West Bank outposts.”

CJPME considered this a serious factual issue which misrepresented the content within the article itself, and pressed for a correction. As CJPME wrote to several outlets:

Unfortunately, the headline is factually inaccurate. Israel has not promised that it will not approve any more West Bank outposts. In fact, multiple Israeli ministers have vowed that last week’s settlement expansion and outpost authorization is just the beginning. Instead, as the story itself makes clear, Israel has made a significantly weaker promise to temporarily ‘hold off’ on such activities for the next few months. As the article mentions, this ‘pause’ does not apply to a coming announcement this week to authorize thousands of new settlement units. Further, as it was reported in the Israeli press, Israel only meets once every three months to authorize settlement expansion anyway, a fact which renders Israel’s ‘promise’ completely meaningless.

On February 27, 2023, the Toronto Star updated its headline to accurately state that “Israel promises to pause additional West Bank outposts.”

On February 20, 2023, Global News published a story by the Associated Press with the factually inaccurate headline, “UN Security Council backs draft resolution opposing Israel settlements.”

CJPME contacted Global News about a factual error in the headline, noting: “The UN Security Council did not approve a draft resolution, but ultimately approved a ‘watered-down statement’ instead, as discussed in the first sentence of the article. There is an important distinction here, as UNSC resolutions are binding on UN members while the statement which was approved is only symbolic.” CJPME noted that other outlets to publish the story had alternative, accurate headlines.

Global News acted promptly the following day to change the headline, which now correctly reads: “UN Security Council backs statement opposing Israel settlements.”

Your article also describes the new right-wing government’s decision to authorize nine illegal settler outposts as a way to “expand its authority” in the occupied West Bank. This framing severely downplays the gravity of this decision. In fact, since 1967, Israel has established at least 132 illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territory according to the Israeli Peace Now watchdog group. These settlements are in direct violation of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, therefore constituting a war crime. Scandalously, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s response is that nine settlements are simply “not enough” and that he “want[s] much more.” 

"Unfortunately, the headline contains a factual inaccuracy. The UN Security Council did not approve a draft resolution, but ultimately approved a “watered-down statement” instead, as discussed in the first sentence of the article. There is an important distinction here, as UNSC resolutions are binding on UN members while the statement which was approved is only symbolic. We expect that this headline change is made promptly so that readers are provided with accurate information."

"Israel has not promised that it will not approve any more West Bank outposts. In fact, multiple Israeli ministers have vowed that last week’s settlement expansion and outpost authorization is just the beginning. Instead, as the story itself makes clear, Israel has made a significantly weaker promise to temporarily ‘hold off’ on such activities for the next few months."

"This article misrepresents the legality of Israel’s occupation and settlement enterprise as a matter of subjective opinion, writing that “most world powers view as illegal the settlements Israel has built on land it captured in a 1967 war with Arab powers.”