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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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Former Australian Nurses Charged Over Threatening Viral Video Banned from NDIS
Illustrative: Supporters of Hamas gather for a rally in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Reuters/Joel Carrett
Two former Australian nurses who were charged over a viral video in which they allegedly threatened to kill Israeli patients have been banned from working under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), four months after being suspended from their jobs at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in Sydney.
Earlier this year, Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, both 27, gained international attention after they were seen in an online video posing as doctors and making inflammatory statements during a night shift conversation with Israeli influencer Max Veifer.
The widely circulated footage, which sparked international outrage and condemnation, showed Abu Lebdeh declaring she would refuse to treat Israeli patients and instead kill them, while Nadir made a throat-slitting gesture and claimed he had already killed many.
Following the incident, New South Wales authorities suspended their nursing registrations and banned them from working as nurses nationwide. They are now also prohibited from working with or providing any services — paid or unpaid — to NDIS participants for two years.
This latest ban, which took effect on May 9, applies nationwide and prohibits Nadir and Abu Lebdeh from working with NDIS participants or performing any role for or on behalf of NDIS providers in any Australian state or territory.
Abu Lebdeh was charged with federal offenses, including threatening violence against a group and using a carriage service to threaten, menace, and harass. If convicted, she faces up to 22 years in prison.
Nadir was charged with federal offenses, including using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offense, as well as possession of a prohibited drug.
Currently, both of them remain free on bail and have not yet entered any pleas, with a court appearance scheduled for July 29. They’ve been prohibited from leaving Australia or using social media while their cases proceed.
According to Nadir’s lawyer, the video was captured “without the consent and knowledge” of his client, and he intends to argue for its exclusion from court.
“We will be challenging the admissibility of the video recording because it was a private conversation which was recorded by the person overseas without my client’s consent and without his knowledge,” Nadir’s lawyer said. “That video recording was made secretly overseas and was unlawfully obtained.”
This incident, which drew international attention, occurred amid a surge of antisemitic acts across Australia since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October 2023, with Jewish institutions targeted in arson attacks and businesses defaced.
Antisemitism spiked to record levels in Australia — especially in Sydney and Melbourne, which are home to some 85 percent of the country’s Jewish population — following Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, with the escalation continuing amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
According to a report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the country’s Jewish community experienced over 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, more than quadrupling from 495 in the prior 12 months.
The number of antisemitic physical assaults in Australia rose from 11 in 2023 to 65 in 2024. The level of antisemitism for the past year was six times the average of the preceding 10 years.
The post Former Australian Nurses Charged Over Threatening Viral Video Banned from NDIS first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Boulder Firebomber Charged With Murder Following Death of Victim
Boulder attack suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman poses for a jail booking photograph after his arrest in Boulder, Colorado, June 2, 2025. Photo: Boulder Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
A victim of the antisemitic Boulder, Colorado firebombing died on Monday, prompting local law enforcement to charge suspect Mohamed Soliman with murder in the first degree.
“Severe injuries” caused the death of Karen Diamond, 82, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office (BCDA) said on Monday in a statement. She was one of 13 people injured when Soliman hurled Molotov cocktails into a crowd of Jewish people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. Her death adds five new charges to the over 200 federal and state criminal charges which could lock Soliman away for over 600 years.
“These additional charges, including the counts of First Degree Murder, are being filed after consultation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Boulder Police Department,” said the DA’s office, adding that it “continues to work closely with federal, state, and local partners in the strong response to this attack. We stand united against acts of antisemitism and hate.”
“This horrific attack has now claimed the life of an innocent person who was beloved by her family and friends,” said Michal Dougherty, district attorney of Boulder County. “Our hearts are with the Diamond family during this incredibly difficult time. Our office will fight for justice for the victims, their loved ones, and the community. Part of what makes Colorado special is that people come together in response to a tragedy; I know that the community will continue to unite in supporting the Diamond family and all the victims of this attack.”
Prosecutors said in May that Soliman yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack, and, according to court documents, told investigators that he wanted to “kill all Zionist people.”
That incident came less than two weeks after a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by the American Jewish Committee. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, also yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Rodriguez stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
In Garret Park, Maryland, a middle-aged man, Clift A. Seferlis, was recently arrested by federal authorities for sending a series of threatening messages to Jewish organizations in Philadelphia. Seferlis referenced the war in Gaza in his communications.
“The Victim Jewish Institution 1 received numerous additional messages since April 1, 2024, which contained a threat to physically destroy the institution,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement. “Prior to the receipt of the May 7, 2025, mailing, Victim Jewish Institution 1 and its employees had received very similar-looking letters, believed to have been sent by Seferlis, which referenced Victim Jewish Institution 1’s ‘many big open windows,’ ‘Kristallnacht,’ ‘anger and rage,’ and a future need to ‘rebuild’ the institution following its destruction.”
Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where Juan Diaz-Rivas, Alejandro Flores-Lamas, and others law enforcement is working to identify, allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and Flores-Lamas, along with their associates, approached the victim while shouting “F—ck the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to the office of the San Francis district attorney.
“[O]ne of them punched the victim, who fell to the ground, hit his head and lost consciousness,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “Allegedly, Mr. Diaz-Rivas and others in the group continued to punch and kick the victim while he was down. A worker at a nearby business heard the altercation and antisemitic language and attempted to intervene. While trying to help the victim, he was kicked and punched.”
According to data released by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) latest Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in April, antisemitism in the US is surging to break “all previous annual records.”
In 2024 alone, the ADL recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents — an average of 25.6 a day — across the US, an eruption of hatred not recorded in the nearly thirty years since the organization began tracking such data in 1979. Incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault all increased by double digits, and for the first time ever a majority of outrages — 58 percent — were related to the existence of Israel as the world’s only Jewish state.
The Algemeiner parsed the ADL data, finding dramatic rises in incidents on college campuses, which saw the largest growth in 2024. The 1,694 incidents tallied by the ADL amounted to an 84 percent increase over the previous year. Additionally, antisemites were emboldened to commit more offenses in public in 2024 than they did in 2023, perpetrating 19 percent more attacks on Jewish people, pro-Israel demonstrators, and businesses perceived as being Jewish-owned or affiliated with Jews.
“In 2024, hatred toward Israel was a driving force behind antisemitism across the US, with more than half of all antisemitic incidents referencing Israel or Zionism,” Oren Segal, ADL senior vice president for counter-extremism and intelligence, said when the report was released. “These incidents, along with all those documented in the audit, serve as a clear reminder that silence is not an option. Good people must stand up, push back, and confront antisemitism wherever it appears. And that starts with understanding what fuels it and learning to recognize it in all its forms.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Boulder Firebomber Charged With Murder Following Death of Victim first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US State Department Revokes Visas of UK Punk Rap Act Bob Vylan Amid Outrage Over Duo’s Chants of ‘Death to the IDF’
Bob Vylan music duo performance at Glastonbury Festival (Source: FLIKR)
The US State Department has revoked the visas for the English punk rap duo Bob Vylan amid ongoing outrage over their weekend performance at the Glastonbury Festival, in which the pair chanted “Death to the IDF.”
The State Department’s decision to cancel their visas would preclude a planned fall concert tour of the US by the British rappers.
“The [US State Department] has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants. Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote on X/Twitter on Monday.
During a June 28 set at Glastonbury Festival, Bob Vylan’s Pascal Robinson-Foster ignited a firestorm by leading the crowd in chants of “Death, death, to the IDF,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces. He also complained about working for a “f—ing Zionist” during the set.
The video of the performance went viral, sparking outrage across the globe.
The BBC, which streamed the performance live, issued an on‑screen warning but continued its broadcast, prompting criticism by government officials for failing to cut the feed.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and festival organizers condemned the IDF chant as hate speech and incitement to violence. The Israeli Embassy in London denounced the language as “inflammatory and hateful.”
“Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC’s output but one performance within our livestreams included comments that were deeply offensive,” the BBC said in a statement following the event.
“These abhorrent chants, which included calls for the death of members of the Israeli Defense Forces … have no place in any civil society,” Leo Terrell, Chair of the US Department of Justice Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, declared Sunday in a statement posted on X.
Citing the act’s US tour plans, Terrell said his task force would be “reaching out to the U.S. Department of State on Monday to determine what measures are available to address the situation and to prevent the promotion of violent antisemitic rhetoric in the United States.”
British authorities, meanwhile, have launched a formal investigation into Bob Vylan’s controversial appearance at Glastonbury. Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they are reviewing footage and working with the Crown Prosecution Service to determine whether the performance constitutes a hate crime or incitement to violence.
United Talent Agency (UTA), one of the premier entertainment talent agencies, dropped the duo, claming “antisemitic sentiments expressed by the group were utterly unacceptable.”
The band defended their performance on social media as necessary protest, stating that “teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place.”
The post US State Department Revokes Visas of UK Punk Rap Act Bob Vylan Amid Outrage Over Duo’s Chants of ‘Death to the IDF’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.