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HR Prompts AP Western Wall Correction

An Associated Press story ostensibly on political goings-on in Italy concerning recently resigned premier Matteo Renzi included the following paragraph: The Western Wall is not the holiest site in Judaism. It is, in…

Simon Plosker
December 13, 2016
12:00 am

Reading time: 2 minutes

An Associated Press story ostensibly on political goings-on in Italy concerning recently resigned premier Matteo Renzi included the following paragraph:

The Western Wall is not the holiest site in Judaism. It is, in fact, the Temple Mount. The Western Wall is the closest site that Jews can pray to the site of the destroyed ancient temples and is a part of a retaining wall of the structure of the Second Temple.

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Aside from AP’s statement being factually inaccurate, it is important to ensure that the correct and accurate information is out there particularly at a time when Israel’s enemies are attempting to delegitimize the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

This particular AP story appeared on the websites of many media outlets, including:

Therefore it was doubly important that we get the correction, which we did. Thank you to AP for responding positively.

Many of the links to the original story now include the following (this from the New York Times website):

We expect that those news sites that have not updated their AP feed will do so shortly.

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Tags: AP, Associated Press, distorted facts, Jerusalem, success, Temple Mount, Western Wall

Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020. Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias. Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.

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