Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Monday issued a response to a decision by the BBC not to refer to Jerusalem on its 2012 Summer Olympics' web site as the capital of Israel. The web site says that Jerusalem is Israel's “seat of government…though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv."
Barkat issued a statement protesting the BBC's decision, saying that “throughout the history of Jerusalem, with over a dozen conquerors, only the Jewish people have called the Holy City of Jerusalem our capital. Jerusalem today, under Israeli sovereignty, has returned to the role it played 2000-3000 years ago. There is unprecedented freedom of movement and religion and the world is welcome and encouraged to enjoy the beauty and majesty of Jerusalem. We will not accept those who deny our history, our sovereignty, and our right to determine our own capital. Irrespective of the BBC's political agenda, Jerusalem was, is, and will always be the capital of Israel and the spiritual, political, and physical center of the Jewish people."