The Guardian usually goes to great lengths to portray Jerusalem and more specifically, the Old City as not being a legitimate part of Israel. Instead, The Guardian (and many other media outlets) refer to “East Jerusalem” as a “settlement” beyond the 1967 borders and therefore “illegally occupied.”
When it comes to the status of Jerusalem, The Guardian’s style guide even states: “Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel; Tel Aviv is,” a shocking assertion ultimately backed up by the UK’s Press Complaints Commission.
But has The Guardian quietly relented? After all, what could be more iconic than a photo of Jerusalem’s Old City and the Temple Mount? And what could be a clearer indication of Israeli sovereignty than using such a photo to illustrate a story about Israel with no mention whatsoever of the Palestinians?
Is this an error? If so, this is one “error” that we won’t be asking The Guardian to correct. But just how long will it take before The Guardian replaces the photo above with a more suitable one?
Expect to see an image of Tel Aviv very soon.