UPDATE: The History Channel revised the page following HonestReporting’s complaint, removing the quote in its entirety.
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The History Channel website includes a “This Day in History” section. The entry for May 14 features the story of the proclamation of the State of Israel from that date in 1948.
The text begins:
On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel,” prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum.
In fact, a look at any English translation of Israel’s Declaration of Independence has Ben-Gurion declaring the “establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel” (the Land of Israel), not “Palestine” as the History Channel would have you believe. Watch Ben-Gurion’s declaration.
How is it possible for such an error to be made unless an editor is being guided by his or her personal politics? Has someone deliberately changed the Land of Israel to Palestine for the purposes of making a political statement?
Doctoring quotes and historical documents is something that should have no place on the History Channel. We’ve requested a correction.
