Google search lists Rivlin's birthplace as 'Jerusalem, Palestine'
Ra'anana mayor finds that biography abstract of well-known Israelis that appear on Google searches in English neglect to mention Israel.
Ra'anana Mayor Ze'ev Bielski was shocked when his Google search of President Reuven Rivlin came up with the information that the president was born in the State of Palestine.
"While working on a speech ahead of President Reuven Rivlin's visit to Ra'anana, we typed his name in English in Google, and then we were shocked to see it says he was born in 'Jerusalem, the State of Palestine,'" Bielski said.
"At first I couldn't believe it, because Rubi Rivlin is the symbol of Israelism. But when we kept searching, we found that when my name is typed into Google it says I was born in Palestine, and the same is written about famous actress Natalie Portman, the Oscar winner who was also born in Jerusalem."
Bielski continued Googling and learned that if you type names of other well-known Israelis in English, the Google search engine offers an abstract of their biographies, listing them as being born in Palestine.
These search results, however, do not appear on every computer - or perhaps were changed since - as Ynetnews Google searches for Rivlin, Portman and Bielski all came up with their birth place listed as just "Jerusalem," without the addition of "Palestine."
The places of birth or death, however, do not list the country as "Israel," either, but rather just the city name. For example, when searching for first Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion, the search engine's abstract listed his birth place as "Płońsk, Poland" but for his place of death, only "Tel HaShomer, Ramat Gan" is listed.
"Israel for them doesn't exist," Bielski said. "I really hope this is human error and not an intentional attempt to make Israel 'disappear.'"
The President's Residence said Thursday it will seek clarifications from Google.
