On June 27, The New York Times published a piece about Israel’s connection to Temple Mount that included this inaccuracy:
… Israel’s management of the Temple Mount, which Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary and which is home to the sacred Al Aqsa Mosque.”
HonestReporting contacted the NYT to point out that, in fact, it is the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, an Islamic religious trust, that controls and manages the Islamic sites on and around the Temple Mount, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Meanwhile, Israel’s role is to provide security in order to ensure that members of all faiths have access to the site, albeit Jews can only visit at designated times and they are not allowed to pray there.
Such security measures are common throughout the world, including at the Kaaba in Mecca and the Vatican in Rome.
To its credit, The New York Times responded in a timely manner to the issue we raised. On July 2, the following correction was published:
By portraying Israel as being in full control of the Temple Mount, NYT readers were initially misinformed. This effectively absolved the Waqf of its role in managing one of the world’s most important religious sites. This omission could have led people to believe that the Israeli government is culpable for the unrest that periodically erupts atop the Temple Mount.
