Israel Matzav

Israel continues to press BBC on capital

If you thought that the controversy over the BBC's omission of Israel's capital on its Olympics web page, was going to be resolve by the bizarre formulation that Israel's "Seat of government [is] Jerusalem, though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv," you were of course wrong.

Government officials have sent several sharply-worded letters to the BBC demanding that it list Israel’s capital as it does for virtually every other country. It also launched a popular campaign on Facebook called Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel, inviting the public to join the effort. More than 16,000 already have.

For HonestReporting and all those demanding the BBC print the truth about Israel, the change was not good enough. Seat of government is not the same as capital, and Mark Regev sent a second letter demanding that the BBC end the discrimination against Israel. “Unlike all other countries listed,” he wrote, “in Israel’s case, our capital Jerusalem is not classified by the BBC as such but rather as a “Seat of Government.”"

The Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, also issued a press release stating firmly that “irrespective of the BBC’s political agenda, Jerusalem always was, is, and will be the capital of Israel and the spiritual, political, and physical center of the Jewish people.”

As of this writing, the BBC continues to discriminate against Israel by treating it differently than every other country competing in the London Olympics.

If any of you are still wondering how the 'civilized' Brits could have been so anti-Semitic during the pre-State period, you can now see how, and that things haven't changed a whole lot in the last 64 years.

Labels: BBC bias, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, London Olympics

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:55 PM