BBC gives E. J’lem to Palestine as capital
British broadcaster’s Olympic site shows Israel with no capital city
Aaron Kalman is a former writer and breaking news editor for the Times of Israel
Israel has no capital, while East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, according to the BBC’s Olympic Games website.
To judge by screen captures from the British broadcaster’s online sports section on Wednesday, Israel may be strong in the judo and sailing categories at the Summer Games, but it is rather weaker as regards its capital city.
Although the city of Jerusalem is mentioned in the visual map of Israel, it is not listed in the “Key Facts” section below the illustration.
The facts about Israel presented by the BBC include the sports in which Israel has won most of its Olympic medals, and the population and size of the country.
In the key facts presented about Palestine, the site lists the population, size and capital of the entity, naming East Jerusalem.
Earlier this year, Britain’s Guardian newspaper declared Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel, and stated so in its guidelines.
The Olympic committee also left Israel capital-free in April, sending Jerusalem on a strange odyssey: One morning it was the capital of Palestine, by the afternoon it had become the capital of Israel. In the end, the Olympic website removed all listings of capital cities so as to avoid political complications.
“It’s a shame a nonpolitical body makes the most absurd political statements,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told The Times of Israel at the time, protesting the initial allocation of Israel’s capital to “a country that doesn’t exist.”
On Thursday the BBC website was updated to show “seat of government” as Jerusalem for Israel and “seat of intended government” as East Jerusalem for Palestine. Neither entity was listed as having a capital.
