Jerusalem’s holy sites have been back in the news thanks to the royal visit of Prince William to the region.
During his stay in Israel, he visited the Old City, including the Western Wall, referred to erroneously in The Times of London‘s initial report as “the most holy site in Judaism.”
No @thetimes @valentinelow, the Western Wall isn’t Judaism’s holiest site, it’s the holiest place where Jews are able to pray. The Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site. Please correct the error. https://t.co/xFqmzVusu9 pic.twitter.com/c0WnSkflLP
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 28, 2018
The story was updated a few hours later without reference to the Western Wall as Prince William continued his tour of Jerusalem holy sites.
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Nonetheless, HR flagging the error clearly had an impact. The following day, the story was fully updated, this time correctly referring to the Western Wall as “the most sacred site accessible to Jews.”
The Times of London wasn’t the only media outlet to correct the error after we complained.
And also repeated by @itvnews. Let’s hope the journalists covering Prince Williams visit to Jerusalem will have learned something by the time we get the corrections. https://t.co/APJcMidu3Z pic.twitter.com/AJGHLGCg6C
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 28, 2018
Following our complaint, ITV News corrected the error, replacing it with the British understatement: “a site special in Judaism as it is the last remnant of Herod’s temple.”
The error was also repeated by the Daily Express, which has yet to issue a correction:
Same error repeated by @dailyexpressuk @Rebecca_Perring. Please correct. https://t.co/l6IfGOiuVa pic.twitter.com/fbnxhTvZA4
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 28, 2018
Prince William wasn’t the only visitor to the Old City to make news. A Belgian model appeared in photographs taken with the Western Wall in the background causing some controversy.
The Daily Telegraph got it right in the first paragraph of its story when it referred to the Western Wall as “the holiest place where Jews can pray.”
Strangely though, the final paragraph of the story said:
A request for a correction has been sent to the Telegraph.
(UPDATE: The Telegraph responded by amending its online article, which now reads: “The Western Wall and Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism as the last remnant of Herod’s temple, was visited this month by the Duke of Cambridge as part of a historic five-day tour of the Middle East.”)
As we have pointed out on numerous occasions to mainstream media outlets, in fact, the holiest site in the world for Jews is the Temple Mount itself, the location of the First and Second Jewish Temples.
For the last several hundred years, Jews have prayed at the Western Wall because it was the closest accessible place to Judaism’s holiest site and is the holiest site that Jews are allowed to pray. (It is forbidden for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount in order to maintain the delicate status quo on the site that is administered by the Muslim Waqf. This in addition to conflicting interpretations of Jewish law as to whether prayer is allowed there today.)
The error is important as it reinforces Palestinian efforts to delegitimize Jewish historical ties to the Temple Mount, which is why we will continue to address this error whenever we see it.
Featured image: Photo by Sebi Berens/Flash90
