The British Broadcasting Corporation, which won the rights to broadcast the London Games,
failed to list Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
on its Olympics website.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the site offered information about all the participating countries, including their athletes and capitals, but Israel's profile made no mention of a capital city at all. The profile page for the Palestinian
Olympic team, however, mentioned "East Jerusalem" as its capital.
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| London Olympics website fails to list Israel's capital / Oren Aharoni |
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New website fails to name Jerusalem as Israel's capital, noting it instead as Palestinian one. Error fixed within several hours |
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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's
spokesman Mark Regev sent a letter of complaint to the Director of the BBC's Bureau in Israel, Paul Danahar, saying he was "Dismayed by the BBC's decision to discriminate against Israel on the BBC's Olympic website.
"Jerusalem
is the capital of the State of Israel, and accordingly we respectfully request the immediate rectification of this matter," he wrote.
Following the complaint, the BBC added Jerusalem to Israel's country profile on Thursday, but it merely informed readers that the "seat of government is Jerusalem" and that "most foreign embassies reside in Tel Aviv." The page still does not list Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The BBC altered the Palestinian page as well, such that it now reads "Intended seat of government East Jerusalem. Ramallah serves as administrative capital."
The BBC's Olympics website is a source of information for millions of sports fans around the world.
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