The Daily Mail’s coverage of the Pope’s visit to Israel included a number of references to Jerusalem’s Western Wall:
- Pope Francis today continued his diplomatic initiative to revitalise the stalled Middle East peace process with a hugely symbolic gesture beside Judaism’s holiest site.
- Pope Francis, in accordance with Jewish tradition left a note in a crack in the Western Wall calling for peace and understanding between the three religions. He bowed his head solemnly at the site, which is regarded as the holiest location in Judaism.
- Pope Francis also visited the Western Wall which is the holiest place in the Jewish world.
This, however, is incorrect. The Temple Mount is, in fact, Judaism’s holiest site. This misconception of the Western Wall’s holiness validates Muslim/Arab claims to exclusive authority over the Temple Mount (supporting Yasser Arafat’s and others’ denial of the Temple’s actual existence there) and implies an ‘extremist’ nature of Jewish advocacy of Jewish interests or rights to pray there.
The more that the media concede the Arab and Islamic connection to the Temple Mount and diminish legitimate Jewish claims, the more this contributes to the very delegitimization of Zionism and Israel’s founding.
Following an email to the Daily Mail, the following corrections to the first and second of the above quotes were made:
- Pope Francis today continued his diplomatic initiative to revitalise the stalled Middle East peace process with a hugely symbolic gesture beside one of Judaism’s holiest sites.
- Pope Francis, in accordance with Jewish tradition left a note in a crack in the Western Wall calling for peace and understanding between the three religions. He bowed his head solemnly at the site, which is regarded as one of the most sacred places in Judaism due to its proximity to the Temple Mount.
The third reference has yet to be corrected, most likely an oversight that we have alerted the Daily Mail to and await a further amendment to the article. Otherwise we commend the Daily Mail for taking the appropriate action and call on our readers to alert us to any similar mistakes that they spot in other media outlets.
