It’s the most common factual error that we get corrected and here’s another one. This time in a predictably negative story in The Independent on Israeli settlement building, a reference was made to Tel Aviv implying that it, rather than Jerusalem, is Israel’s capital.
If the Palestinians referred to Tel Aviv implying it is Israel's capital, then @Independent @JournoJane should put it in quotations. Otherwise, please correct and refer to Jerusalem as the capital and the place where Israeli government policies are made. https://t.co/aLqakn0HEP pic.twitter.com/dZ2Qaq4smI
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 27, 2019
Palestinians can be expected to avoid recognizing Jerusalem’s status and they may very well have referred to Tel Aviv instead. If this was the case, then The Independent is obliged to treat it in the same way as it quoted the “colonial mentality” phrase.
Related reading: Deal With It: Jerusalem is Israel’s Capital
If this was The Independent’s own reference to Tel Aviv, then this is simply a politically-motivated factual error.
Either way, we registered a complaint, which The Independent acknowledged. The text now reads:
At the end of last month Israel announced it would build 6,000 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinian leaders condemned as showing Israel’s “colonial mentality”.
Still unpleasant reading but at least Tel Aviv is no longer the subject of a capital error.
© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
