Jerusalem is the capital of Israel — the only capital the Jewish state has ever had. It has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3500 years. But some in the media, their anti-Israel animus showing, have tried to suggest that Tel Aviv, as Israel’s largest city and commercial hub, is the “real” capital of Israel, no matter what the Israelis themselves claim. It’s a unique situation: the people of a country are having their claim to their capital simply ignored by those who do not wish them well, or are afraid of economic consequences from Arab and Muslim states if they dare to refer to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Some think they simply know better what the capital of Israel must be. More on this disturbing state of affairs can be found here: “Journalists Using Israel-Hamas War as a Pretext for Claiming Tel Aviv Is Israel’s Capital,” by Rachel O’Donoghue, HonestReporting, February 27, 2024:
Just over a decade ago, HonestReporting achieved significant success in changing the way The Guardian reports on Israel, setting a journalistic precedent in the UK.
Following a complaint to the then-UK media regulatory body, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC)—which included launching legal action to pressure the PCC to enforce its own rules—The Guardian officially acknowledged that Tel Aviv is not the capital of Israel.
While it was, sadly, a stretch too far for The Guardian to recognize Jerusalem’s status, the newspaper nevertheless updated its style guide. Since then, we have only had to complain to Guardian editors on a handful of occasions when a reporter has erroneously stated that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital in news copy (see here and here).
The Guardian’s Style Guide included — before HonestReporting’s complaint was made in 2012 — this: “Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel. Tel Aviv is.” Now that same Style Guide reads: “Jerusalem is the seat of government and Tel Aviv is the country’s diplomatic and financial center.” Since that designation was adopted, the United States, which is by far the most important country with which Israel has diplomatic relations, has moved its embassy to Jerusalem. So it is not quite true that Tel Aviv remains the only diplomatic center; it shares that designation with Jerusalem. Besides, save for the Ministry of Defense, all the parts of the Israeli government with whom foreign diplomats have dealings are located in Jerusalem: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Knesset, and, especially, the Prime Minister’s Office. When foreign dignitaries visit Israel, they are received first at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is increasingly a “diplomatic center” in its own right. If a foreign diplomat wants to meet with Knesset members, or Israeli diplomats, or someone in the Prime Minister’s office, he goes to Jerusalem. So it would be most accurate to describe Jerusalem not just as the “seat of government,” but also as “one of the country’s two diplomatic centers, where some embassies, including that of the United States, are located, and where the Knesset, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are all located.”
It is a similar story with other international media outlets which, depending on their editorial policies, normally either refer to Jerusalem as the capital or avoid mentioning Israel’s capital city at all.
However, since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of publications “mistakenly” describing Tel Aviv as the capital.
Since October 7, media organizations including CNN, The New York Times, The Daily Mail, The Times of London, The Independent, and The Telegraph have all made this error. Worryingly, several of them have failed to issue corrections, citing specious grounds….
Clearly, this insistence by the major media — even after having been courteously corrected by HonestReporting — that Tel Aviv is the “capital of Israel” is not a product of ignorance, but of deliberate malice. They are trying to weaken, in the eyes of their audience, the historic link between the people of Israel and Jerusalem, which has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3500 years. They want to promote the Palestinian claim to the city as the ”future capital of a Palestinian state,” even though Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab state. Even when the Jordanians held the Old City of Jerusalem between 1949 and 1967, as well as the rest of east Jerusalem, they never tried to make Jerusalem the capital of Jordan, so insignificant was it to them. After King Abdullah in 1951, no other Jordanian or Arab leader — save Mahmoud Abbas, who may have gone once or twice to Al-Aqsa — on a handful of occasions — even bothered to visit Jerusalem.
Decisions about the conduct of the war are mainly made by the generals in the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv. But some major decisions, as those about ceasefires, the timing of IDF incursions into Rafah, the plans to evacuate civilians, the changing of war aims, the decision as to how hard to hit back at Hezbollah in Lebanon while still fighting Hamas in Gaza, are made by the War Cabinet, meeting primarily at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. Yet this is a fact that many in the media do not report, as they continue to refer to Tel Aviv as the only place where military decisions are made. That isn’t true.
It would be both baffling and inaccurate if Israeli journalists suddenly started referring to New York as the US capital in news stories, or used Manchester as a synonym for London when writing about British politics.
Why, then, do some journalists find it acceptable to make similar errors with Israel?
They do it because they can. They do it because their editors do not take them to task. They do it because they are filled with anti-Israel animus — at the BBC, there is not a single reporter, among those covering Israel and “Palestine,” who is the least bit sympathetic to Israel. They do it because they haven’t been called on to justify such a bizarre and biased practice — calling Tel Aviv the capital of Israel — by enough people. If these reporters are deluged with well-reasoned emails taking issue with their ignoring the fact that Jerusalem has been the capital of modern Israel from its beginning in 1948, and been the capital of the Jewish people for 3500 years, and has never been the capital of any Arab polity, some reporters and editors may be shamed into recognizing those facts. The far-left Guardian has long been hostile to Israel, but back in 2012, its Style Guide.stopped insisting that “Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel. Tel Aviv is,” and instead informed its journalists that “Jerusalem is the seat of government” of Israel. Little by little, those journalists and their editors can be shamed or pressured into admitting that Jerusalem is indeed the “capital of Israel.” It’s about time.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Why does Israel even allow foreign countries to have embassies in Tel Aviv? They should just force them to place it in Jerusalem. We don’t allow anybody to have their embassy in New York, The Brits don’t have anyone’s embassy in Birmingham, the Australians don’t have it in Sydney, the Indians don’t have anyone’s embassy in Mumbai and so on
They should also disabuse other countries of the idea that they can have consulates or embassies to the Palis in “East” Jerusalem: other countries don’t get to dictate anyone else’s civic policies. It would be like Iran trying to tell the US to put Kansas City all in either Kansas or Missouri
Michael Paul Skok says
In Kansas. We don’t have NYC partly in NYS and partly in NJ.
STJOHNOFGRAFTON says
Of course, some are opposed to recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Muslims in general and Palestinians in particular (and Muslim terrorist organizations) are offended by the thought of Jerusalem being made the legitimate capital of Israel.
The media are offended too because they are in open rebellion against God which makes them ignorant of reality.
It is important to realize a couple things: first, the Israeli government recognizes the rights of Muslims to worship on the Temple Mount, and it works to protect them there. Second, the Qur’an upholds the rights of the Jews to the Promised Land, which includes Jerusalem: “And thereafter Allah said to the children of Israel, ‘Dwell securely in the Promised Land’” (Sura 17:104; see also Sura 2:122; Sura 45:17; and Sura 57:26).
Jerusalem is a special city. It is the only city in the world where God has put His Name: “In Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever” (2 Kings 21:7).
(Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/Jerusalem-capital-Israel.html)
Kosh's Shadow says
Muslims not only don’t accept Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, they don’t accept Israel at all.
tgusa says
The predominantly non-muslim and gender diverse western media has gone pro-islamist because, not so secretly, they hate themselves. We see that a lot lately. Is it too much to ask that they just do themselves and get it over with?
loek de vette says
Hi Hugh,
I don’t want to sound super critical, I really appreciate your articles. However, King David lived about1000 years before Christ, so 3000 years seems more accurate when you mention the length of time that Jeruslam is Israel’s capital. Please correct me if I am wrong.