John,
In Gaza and the West Bank, the violence has not ended. It has just become easier to ignore.
What is being described as a “ceasefire” is not peace. It is, at best, a partial reduction in bombing while every other mechanism of occupation remains firmly in place. Palestinians are still trapped under siege, still being starved, still subjected to military domination designed to make life unlivable and force them from their land.
In Gaza, food and humanitarian aid remain tightly restricted. Families face widespread hunger and malnutrition. Hospitals are barely functioning, crippled by catastrophic shortages of medicine, electricity, clean water, and equipment. People continue to die from preventable causes, even when airstrikes temporarily slow. A pause in bombing does not mean safety when starvation, disease, and displacement are ongoing.
In the West Bank, the daily violence continues, with raids by the Israeli military, mass arrests, and home demolitions. Armed settlers attack Palestinian communities with near-total impunity, backed by the Israeli army. The clear objective is still displacement -- Palestinians are still denied a home, as the occupying power continues to take action to drive them out.
Send a message to CNN, MS NOW, Fox, ABC, and NBC demanding they start reporting honestly on what Palestinians still endure -- without euphemisms, without false balance, and without labeling the ongoing suffering as peace.
Language matters. A reduction in airstrikes does not end occupation. It does not stop hunger. It does not halt settler violence. It does not restore rights, dignity, or security.
Calling this situation a “ceasefire” is dangerously misleading. It glosses over continued collective punishment and creates the false impression that conditions have meaningfully improved. Yet many U.S. media outlets have adopted this glossy language, softening the reality and draining urgency from a humanitarian catastrophe that is still unfolding every day.
When major networks describe this moment as a ceasefire, they obscure the truth of continued starvation, violence, and dispossession. They shift attention away from collapsing healthcare systems, settler attacks, and mass displacement. They give the public permission to believe the crisis has passed — when it has not.
Journalists have a responsibility to describe conditions as they are, not as policymakers wish them to appear. Honest reporting requires naming occupation, identifying ongoing abuses, and acknowledging that Palestinians remain without a home or protection. Euphemistic language does real harm: it erases lives, shields policy from scrutiny, and allows suffering to continue.
Tell the major news networks to stop calling occupation a ceasefire and to report clearly on the ongoing reality facing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Thank you for insisting that words reflect reality -- and that peace means far more than fewer bombs.
– DFA AF Team
