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The Laughable Excuses Given by the BBC & CNN for Israel Capital City Mistake
The BBC logo is seen at the entrance at Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in central London. Photo by Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA.
There’s chutzpah, and then there’s the BBC’s explanation for why it should be allowed to incorrectly describe Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital — an explanation so absurd and convoluted it borders on farce.
Now, the BBC isn’t alone in its arrogant insistence that it gets to decide the capital city of a country 2,500 miles away from its London headquarters.
We’ve long been amazed at the sheer ignorance of journalists who seemingly believe that misinforming their readers about Israeli geography and governance will magically solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But most media outlets we catch making this error will eventually correct the record. Take The Guardian, for example, which, after some back-and-forth with HonestReporting, agreed to make four amendments last month to stories that erroneously called Tel Aviv the capital.
Rarely will a news organization dig in its heels quite as much as the publicly-funded British Broadcasting Corporation, which is mounting a Herculean defense of what it has apparently deemed is its divine right to keep making the same mistake.
Indeed, the mental gymnastics the BBC performs to justify its repetitive error are so laughably ludicrous that we had no choice but to put them on display here in all their cringe-inducing glory.
A brief background.
On April 20, HonestReporting complained to the broadcaster over a segment aired the day before on BBC Radio4’s The Now Show, featuring Steven Punt and Hugh Dennis, who ended the show by referring to Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital.
On the last ever episode of @BBCRadio4 The Now Show, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis end by inaccurately referring to Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel. It was Jerusalem when your show first aired in 1998, and it’s Jerusalem still. pic.twitter.com/SzuJvNILaH
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 19, 2024
Five days later on April 25, the BBC’s complaints team responded simply to say that while it does “report that Israel claims Jerusalem as its capital, this isn’t widely recognized by the international community, with most foreign embassies being in Tel Aviv.”
We appealed, pointing out first, that the BBC had not reported in that segment that Israel claims its capital is Jerusalem, and second, that the international community’s recognition, or indeed lack thereof, does not change material reality.
For over a month, we heard nothing.
And then, on the last day of May, we finally understood why it took the BBC so long to respond. The email we received was nothing short of a masterclass in crafting complete nonsense.
After first assuring us that our “concerns” had been raised with senior managers at Radio 4, we were told the following:
In this comedy programme, the presenter made a passing reference to Iran’s launching of drones against Israel. Diplomatically, it is clear that Iran considers it was retaliating against Tel Aviv, as evidenced by the Iranian government billboard unveiled around the same time with the slogan “Tel Aviv is our battleground, not Tehran.”
It continued:
In this context, as a passing reference in a comedy programme where the audience would not expect an explanation of the differing views on the status of Jerusalem, we consider that the line ‘Tehran retaliated directly against Tel Aviv…’ was a reflection of the news events of the week with Iran’s position on its dispute, rather than a suggestion that the BBC considers Tel Aviv to be the capital city.
Let’s break this down for those who aren’t quite as seasoned as we are at unraveling the BBC’s peculiar spin.
The broadcaster is arguing that listeners of its Radio 4 comedy show should have known — from a story published on its website — that billboards in Iran contained threats to launch missiles at Tel Aviv.
Aware of this, listeners should have, according to the BBC, known that “diplomatically, it is clear that Iran considers it was retaliating against Tel Aviv.”
Of course, there is a good reason that Iran “considers” it was retaliating against Tel Aviv: the Islamist regime doesn’t even recognize the State of Israel, let alone its capital, preferring to call it the “Zionist entity.”
It’s nice to know that the BBC takes its editorial guidance from the mullahs in Iran.
And now CNN.
Like the BBC, CNN also tried to defend a capital city error in one of its pieces, albeit with less imagination.
This month, we noted that an opinion piece by Peter Bergen had used Tel Aviv as a synonym when describing the announcement of a peace proposal made in Washington by US President Joe Biden.
The same way the peace plan was unveiled in the US capital Washington DC, so if it were to have been unveiled in Israel, it would have come from Jerusalem, the Israeli seat of government and its capital, not in Tel Aviv. 2⃣ pic.twitter.com/RqYnNooQDx
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 2, 2024
This time, CNN argued that the Israeli government is “active in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,” which it said was evidenced by the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu had recently held press conferences in Tel Aviv.
We were then told an update to the piece saying that the proposal “wasn’t announced in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv is appropriate.”
By this reasoning, if Joe Biden were to hold a press conference in say, Chicago, for example, one could argue it should be given capital city status.
While the reasoning given by both outlets was so silly it was almost comedic, the two incidents have further exposed a widespread shift during this latest Israel-Hamas war in which journalists have abandoned impartiality, morphing into journalists-cum-activists.
Lastly, even if we were to accept that Jerusalem was not identified in stories as Israel’s capital, there is still no good reason why Tel Aviv should be mentioned in such stories, ever.
Tel Aviv is not, nor has it ever been, Israel’s capital.
We intend to continue trudging through the BBC’s convoluted complaints process and will escalate further if necessary. Watch this space.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post The Laughable Excuses Given by the BBC & CNN for Israel Capital City Mistake first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says
A closed Israeli military gate stands near Ramallah in the West Bank, February 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after Arab ministers planning to attend were stopped from coming.
The move, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government announced one of the largest expansions of settlements in the West Bank in years, underlined escalating tensions over the issue of international recognition of a future Palestinian state.
Saturday’s meeting comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, that is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood, which Israel fiercely opposes.
The delegation of senior Arab officials due to visit Ramallah – including the Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Bahraini foreign ministers – postponed the visit after “Israel’s obstruction of it,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the block was “a clear breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupying force.”
The ministers required Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had delayed a planned trip to the West Bank.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Palestinians want the West Bank territory, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the core of a future state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
But the area is now criss-crossed with settlements that have squeezed some 3 million Palestinians into pockets increasingly cut off from each other though a network of military checkpoints.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the announcement this week of 22 new settlements in the West Bank was an “historic moment” for settlements and “a clear message to Macron.” He said recognition of a Palestinian state would be “thrown into the dustbin of history.”
The post Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Armed men hijacked dozens of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip overnight and hundreds of desperate Palestinians joined in to take supplies, local aid groups said on Saturday as officials waited for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals.
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close but Hamas has said it is still studying the latest proposals from his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the proposals.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
On Saturday, the Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war began 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
At the same time, a separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on the social media platform X.
NO BREAD IN WEEKS
The World Food Program said it brought 77 trucks carrying flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday and all of them were stopped on the way, with food taken by hungry people.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” it said in a statement.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Overnight on Saturday, he said trucks had been stopped by armed groups near Khan Younis as they were headed towards a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and hundreds of desperate people had carried off supplies.
“We could understand that some are driven by hunger and starvation, some may not have eaten bread in several weeks, but we can’t understand armed looting, and it is not acceptable at all,” he said.
Israel says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
The post Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
The Palestinian terrorist group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.
“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to the Hamas statement.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.
Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Program trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.
‘A MOCKERY’
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
The post Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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