Ben Yehuda street, Jerusalem
Ben Yehuda street, JerusalemFlash 90

The HonestReporting website, which tracks media bias against Israel, is calling on a Canadian network to acknowledge that it erred by referring to Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital instead of Jerusalem.

The report in question aired last week, when winter storms were taking a toll across the Middle East, including Israel. HonestReporting said that Canadian network CTV reported at various times and on several regional stations on January 8 that “Tel Aviv is dealing with a heavy rain situation. The storms flooded roads and brought chaos to the Israeli capital…”

“Contrary to CTV’s claims, Jerusalem was designated as Israel’s capital in 1950 and while most countries, including Canada, locate their embassies in Tel Aviv due to the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, claiming that Israel’s financial centre is its capital, only serves to delegitimize Israel’s own assigned capital, Jerusalem and to promote a falsehood,” wrote HonestReporting. “Indeed, Jerusalem has been unified for 46 years and has been Jewish for over 3,000 years.”

The website said it had contacted CTV President Wendy Freeman, asking that  the network issue an on-air correction.

“Recently, our international affiliate HonestReporting.com launched legal proceedings forcing the Guardian to retract its claim that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel,” noted HonestReporting. “The Guardian’s retraction acknowledged that ‘we accept that it is wrong to state that Tel Aviv – the country’s financial and diplomatic centre – is the capital.’”

In a similar incident before the London Olympics this past summer, the BBC, which has often been charged with bias against Israel, came under fire for listing “East Jerusalem” as the capital for the “Palestinian Olympic team" while leaving Israel listed without a capital.

After Israel and Jews around the world complained, the BBC partly corrected its mistake and stated that Israel’s "seat of government is Jerusalem" while still omitting Jerusalem as the capital. Just to get its point across, it added, "Most foreign embassies reside in Tel Aviv."