BBC Olympic Coverage Declares East Jerusalem as Palestinian Capital
July 19, 2012 13:34 by Simon PloskerThe BBC Sport website’s coverage of the forthcoming London Olympic games features country profiles of all of the competing nations. Every other country profile includes a listed capital city. All except for Israel. This even includes “Palestine” where the BBC takes enormous liberties with its list of facts.
UPDATE ON PAGE 2: BBC RESPONDS AND AMENDS ITS WEBSITE
According to the BBC, “East Jerusalem” is the capital of Palestine.
So if the BBC were to be consistent, it would presumably state (also inaccurately) that Israel’s capital is “West Jerusalem”. Wrong.
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The BBC’s Olympic country profile for Israel simply fails at all to include a listed capital city. This despite the inclusion of Jerusalem on the map of Israel. While the only partially-recognized entity of “Palestine” has a listed capital that isn’t even under its sovereign control, the very real and recognized state of Israel has no capital despite being sovereign over the entire city of Jerusalem.
“Palestine” has been recognized as a member of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) since 1986, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1995. That the BBC features Palestine is therefore legitimate within this context. However, while the BBC could argue that Jerusalem is not recognized as Israel’s capital by many in the international community, there is simply no excuse for distorting reality and appointing part of Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital city. Or is this just further evidence that the BBC shares the dreams of the Palestinians?
The omission of Israel’s capital has irked the Israeli government, prompting Mark Regev, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman, to write the following letter to the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau:
Read the Israeli letter and the rest of this article on Page 2
M. Nakash
10:23 pm
Jul 25, 2012
THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL IS JERUSALEM!!
THE NERVE OF YOU TO DISTORT THE FACTS AND PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT CAPITAL YOU APPROVE OF AND WHAT NOT. PERHAPS YOU WANT TO REWRITE HISTORY TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS OR PUBLIC OPINION? EVEN THE NEW YORK TIMES ACCEPTS JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL S CAPITAL! WHEN LISTING INTERNATIONAL WEATHER! FOR MANY YEARS ONLY TEL AVIV WAS LISTED HOWEVER NOW JERUSALEM WEATHER IS GIVEN BECAUSE THE PAPER GIVES THE INTERNATIONAL WEATHER OF THE CAPITAL OF THE COUNTRIES THEY CHOOSE TO WRITE ABOUT. AND JERUSALEM WEATHER ONLY IS LISTED!
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PAthena
4:32 am
Jul 26, 2012
I add to my previous comment: Jerusalem was the capital of Judea and Israel under King David 3000 years ago, before there was even a city of London or a country of Britain.
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estela
7:49 pm
Jul 26, 2012
Jerusalem unique and eternal is the capital of Israel.Facts,History and heritage show the very true
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Marnin
11:24 pm
Jul 26, 2012
I just send the following message to the BBC Sports complaints page:
“The UN lists the capital of Israel as Jerusalem
(http://data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=Israel)
Why don’t you update your page to reflect the UN”
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David
11:33 pm
Jul 26, 2012
Very simple, just like the rest of the world, their hatred towards Jews overwhelms their ability to be objective and tell the truth.
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kate b
11:34 am
Jul 27, 2012
It’s the BBC, it has it’s propaganda in the Education system from cradle to grave, so has to keep up the deception. But doesn’t it say it all where in “Palestine” or is it Balamory, or Trumpton but not so benign, the language is Arabic only, yet in Israel it is Hebrew and Arabic. Don’t forget the livestream today!
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If I forget thee O Jerusalem, my name is the BBC (and the Guardian) | Anne's Opinions
12:43 pm
Jul 27, 2012
[...] all started when the BBC’s Olympics page mentioned “Palestine’s” capital as “East Jerusalem” and Israel as [...]
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Isaac Honey
6:24 pm
Jul 27, 2012
Don’t get too upset! Ha-Shem is in control. The Father of all creation is able to rectify all falseness, all mistakes and All Lies!!.
It is written that Yeshua will restore All Things to himself as the Father has ordained. He will have His enemies for a footstool!
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David
11:09 pm
Jul 27, 2012
I would put more trust in the new 30,000 lb bunker busters.
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Rachel
7:58 pm
Jul 27, 2012
2 unreliable UK news agencies: the BBS and the Guardian – both will not miss the opportunity to distort the truth to vilify Israel or the USA – It seems that the arabs employed there have their influence in these agencies.
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Mike
12:12 am
Jul 28, 2012
When the Israeli athletes came out in the Opening Ceremony, BBC TV commentary made the point about this being the 40th anniversary of the TERRORIST killing of the Israeli athletes. Respect to Huw Edwards.
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RAB
1:40 am
Jul 28, 2012
The capital of Israel is Jerusalem. Perversion on the part of UK press will not change the truth. It is a sad day when the press spouts lies and innuendo, instead of fact. Two thumbs down to the UK. Apparently, they were not ready to handle the Olympic games.
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#justoneminute – eine Schweigeminute für die Terroropfer von ‘München 1972′ « israelkompetenzkollektion
6:04 pm
Jul 28, 2012
[...] Die BBC weigert sich Jerusalem als Hauptstadt Israels anzuerkennen [...]
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Steve Lubetkin
2:24 pm
Jul 30, 2012
Palestine page now says “ntended seat of government East Jerusalem. Ramallah serves as administrative capital.”
For Israel, it says “Seat of government Jerusalem, though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv.”
This is about as good as can be expected, no?
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ryan
7:50 am
Jul 31, 2012
actually the oslo accords were supposed to declare East Jerusalem capital (and Israel actually planned to only give them a few neighborhoods, and even though Oslo bluntly said that ALL SETTLEMENTS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ABANDONED) Israel never honored it. Also, the Gaza withdrawal gave Israel control over the water supply (Which incidentally they hoard to this day?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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David
8:19 am
Jul 31, 2012
The Oslo accord was a failure before it was signed because no one should have ever expected the arabs to honour any agreement as they have not honoured any agreement in the past. The rockets keep coming and the arabs keep spewing hatred from the cradle to the grave. Their misery is their own doing, the sooner they accept that they can’t take any more without reciprocating the better for them and the better for the world.
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ryan
10:40 pm
Aug 01, 2012
actually the vaunted deal barak offered gave them no control over their own water or borders, settler roads and settlements would have divided the country, and the Arabs were not offered East Jerusalem as a capital. I can easily find statistics that show that support for the two state was higher than you thought. And the Allon plan was also not a fair deal. This site doesn’t care about the truth. It’s about silencing those who say that Israel has done bad things. It’s as reputable as joseph goebbels is on jews
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Marnin
11:28 pm
Aug 01, 2012
Ryan, you need to read up and learn what the Oslo accords were.
They were “Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements” and were to pave the way to “final status issues” that were not mentioned in the Oslo accords.
1. The status of Jerusalem was not discussed in the Oslo accords.
2. Settlements were not discussed in the Oslo accords.
The above two points were to be left for “final status issue” discussions to be held at a later time.
But you won’t take my word. Read about the Olso Accords from the UN website that published it.
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,ARAB,,,3de5e96e4,0.html
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Sylvie Schapira
9:54 am
Jul 31, 2012
Ryan; I do not know where you got that information from? Israel never agreed to divide Jerusalem – and some of the settlements are on land that is disputed, not a de facto acceptance. As for Gaza, Israel ensures that all necessary resources pass from Israel into Gaza, and this includes water. Have you been to Gaza? You would be surprised at the shopping mall, the shops full of food etc., if there is any hardship (and there is) for the Arabs, it is because their leaders use all aid from USA and Europe to buy weapons to attack Israel. Go to Sderot, which is 3 miles from Gaza, and see the hordes of shelling and rocket parts that have fallen there. The British media only prints Arab narratives.
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ryan
10:46 pm
Aug 01, 2012
actually the un resolution that was the basis of oslo (and which Israel AGREED TO) said that all settlements had to be removed PERIOD. They are illegal, and are only there because some of the jews are religious fundamentalist lunatics (No seriously, I’ve met Israeli jews who think they are scum.) Rabin made an effort, but Netenyahu and Barak and Sharon were liars who never gave a rats ass about genuine peace. Shimon Peres was a racist who hated blacks (he called the representatives at the UN animals when they said Israel was acting like colonial powers). Is anyone who says “Israel has blood on its hands and has been dishonest and dishonorable” an anti semite.
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ryan
4:46 pm
Aug 01, 2012
Okay, first of all, David’s accusations are dependent on three blatant fallacies
1.) It assumes that all Palestinians are subhuman animals who are intransigent and are only ever violent monsters. That is not only xenophobic but an outright lie (Palestinians are capable of producing fertile offspring with non palestinians, and the primary way of identifying creatures from the same species is the ability to produce fertile offspring.)
2.) It ignores that terrorist attacks did start to decline between 1994 and 1995, and that support amongst the palestinians for a two state solution was pretty high.
3.) It ignores that israel also refused to play fair as well.
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David
10:16 pm
Aug 01, 2012
Ryan, You are incorrect on all 3 counts. You have produced no evidence to support your statements and seem totally out of touch with the reality on the ground.
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Aubrey Blitz
4:58 pm
Aug 01, 2012
Ryan me lad, how would you classify a people which names street after murderers who blow children to pieces and dance in the streets when they murder an inocent family sleeping in their beds?
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David
10:20 pm
Aug 01, 2012
The only name that comes to mind is “savages”.
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ryan
10:36 pm
Aug 01, 2012
Actually a more accurate term is “people who thanks to having have had most of their resources taken, have lost far more civilians, have been on the receiving end of unprovoked attacks from settlers, and who are denied a great deal of food (the list denies things like chocolate and potato chips, and the palestinians are forbidden from making their own wells, which are on their land.) and 80% of their own water so that settlements can have swimming pools, have an irruptional but understandable dislike of settlements and thus feel no pity when said settlers get killed. Also, most of the photos are misrepresentations at best. Also, settlements have no strategic value.
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Forevertruth
5:07 pm
Aug 01, 2012
THE PALESTINE QUIZ
Just for fun lets see how many of these answers you can get correctly!
The Palestine Quiz??
1. When was the country of “Palestine” founded and by whom?
?2. What were it’s borders?
?3. What was it’s capital?
?4. What were it’s major cities?
?5. Name at least one “Palestinian Leader” before Arafat.
?6. What was the language of the mythical country of Palestine?
?7. What was the prevalent religion of the “Ancient Mythical Palestine?”
?8. What was the name of it’s currency?
?9. Choose any date in history and tell me what was the approximate exchange rate of the “Palestinian Monetary Unit”against the US dollar, the German Mark, Great Britain’s Pound, Japanese Yen, or the
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Ryan
5:10 pm
Aug 01, 2012
Actually I saw the alleged photos cited. The captions were misleading at best and what’s more when said family is from group that hoard so much water that the locals barely have enough to run a bath each night launch repeated attacks with no provocation serve no value and are comprised largely of fundies who are disliked in israel I classify them as human beings acting out irrational but ultimately understandable anger. Also please show me these photos of the cheering
Also
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Aubrey Blitz
6:53 pm
Aug 01, 2012
Ryan, when sky news showed these scenes, I was not to know that sometime down the line a Ryan was going to doubt them ,so obviously I didn`t copy them; nor did I copy the newsreel of the cheering crowd of arabs as the body of a lynched soldier was thrown out of a first floor police station window.
No lad, bigots are just that, bigots, no proofs in the world will satisfy them because people born to hate cannot be changed. Did you not see the mothers of suicide bombers who had blown people to bits, saying how proud they were of their “normal” offspring ?
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ryan
7:09 pm
Aug 01, 2012
You seem to feel that it is entirely impossible that Israel’s actions may have played a role. Auand given various things Israel’s done (Deir Yassin, Qibya, Sabra shatilla which they may have well don by standing by and doing nothing and actually aiding the murderers.
Also, I’ve seen photos used by other sites to try and claim that the palestinians celebrated. They weren’t at all accurate. They simply labelled them a certain way.
Also, you can get the footage on youtube if you want, or get the photos online.
And that statement you state about the palestinians applies most accurately to you. As far as you are concerned, Israel can do no wrong, and they can never be needlessly cruel.
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