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Honest Reporting, an organization that monitors media bias against Israel, has reported that the Canadian television network channel CTV reported that Tel Aviv was the capital city of Israel while covering the floods that occurred in the Holy Land not too long ago. Honest Reporting is calling upon CTV to retract the assertion that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel. According to Honest Reporting, “Contrary to CTV’s claims, Jerusalem was designated as Israel’s capital in 1950 and while most countries, including Canada, locate their embassies in Tel Aviv due to the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, claiming that Israel’s financial centre is its capital, only serves to delegitimize Israel’s own assigned capital, Jerusalem and to promote a falsehood. Indeed, Jerusalem has been unified for 46 years and has been Jewish for over 3,000 years.”
From a historical point of view, Jerusalem has only been the capital city of the Jewish people. No other nation has made Jerusalem their capital city throughout human history. In 1003 BCE, King David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom and it would remain like this until the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE. Yet, following the brief Babylonian exile, Jews would return to Jerusalem and again make it the Jewish capital city for another five and a half centuries, until the Romans would force most of the Jewish people to leave their ancestral homeland.
Following the Roman expulsion, Caesarea and not Jerusalem would be the administrative capital under both Roman and Byzantine rule. Under the Umayyad, Abbassid and Fatamid caliphates, the Muslims would control Israel from Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo, not Jerusalem. Under the Ottoman Turks, Israel would be ruled from Istanbul, not Jerusalem. And when Israel declared independence and declared her capital city to be Jerusalem, the Jordanians did not do likewise, even though they controlled half the city. The Arabs of Judea and Samaria as well as Jerusalem were ruled from Amman, not the holy city. This right here demonstrates how much the Jewish people have valued Jerusalem compared to other nations that have conquered the area.
Yet aside from these facts, under international law, Israel has the right to select where her capital city is located. Israel has declared her capital city to be Jerusalem and even the United Nations lists Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. According to American law, “Since 1950, the city of Jerusalem has been the capital of the State of Israel.” Presently, all of Israel’s national government buildings are in Jerusalem, with the sole exception of the Ministry of Defense. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament building, as well as the Prime Minister’s residence, are in Jerusalem. The fact that most countries select to have their embassies stationed in Tel Aviv in order to appease the Arab states does not change this reality.
Unfortunately, CTV is not the first international news network that has declared that Tel Aviv is the capital city of Israel instead of Jerusalem. Honest Reporting in the past launched legal proceedings against the Guardian for claiming that Tel Aviv was the capital city of Israel, which forced the Guardian to acknowledge their errors. BBC had also referred to the Palestinians as having East Jerusalem as their capital city, while refraining from mentioning Israel’s capital, during their coverage of the London Olympics. The BBC would eventually refer to Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government.
Please write to CTV’s President to request a retraction!
Contact: BellMediaPR@bellmedia.ca
Dear Wendy Freeman,
As a concerned citizen who greatly believes that all news organizations should report news accurately, I was greatly disturbed that CTV referred to Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital city. According to international law, each country has the right to select their capital city and Israel has chosen Jerusalem. Even the United Nations lists Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city. Presently, all of Israel’s national government buildings are in Jerusalem, with the sole exception of the Ministry of Defense. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament building, as well as the Prime Minister’s residence, are in Jerusalem. The fact that most countries select to have their embassies stationed in Tel Aviv in order to appease the Arab states does not change this reality. Please correct your mistake by making a retraction and from now on refer to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.
Sincerely,
Your Name
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