MPACUK brought you an exclusive campaign after a BBC reporter made an erroneous, incorrect statment describing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The BBC were inundated with calls from the public demanding an apology for their offensive error. MPACUK wrote an official complaint to the BBC in the form on an open letter whereby our calls for a public apology were echoed by Arab Media Watch, Dr Naseem, Dr Azam Tamimi and Friends of Al Aqsa. 

Dear Sir / Madam,

We the undersigned are writing with reference to the BBC Sport programme 'Feature: Israel in Focus' shown on BBC 1 on 24 March 2007 at 12.10BST. We were astounded to hear your reporter incorrectly refer to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. According to a background document on the Arab Media Watch website:

"East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions (237, 242 & 405). In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides: declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions. Israel's capital is recognised as Tel Aviv pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians." [1]

Furthermore, your reporter is in breach of the BBC's own guidelines in 'Israel and the Palestinians: Key terms', which state:

"The status of Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive and complex issues of the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its status is dependent on a final agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. Between 1949 and 1967, the city was divided into Israeli controlled West Jerusalem, and Jordanian controlled East Jerusalem. Israel currently claims sovereignty over the entire city, and claims it as its capital, after capturing East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war. That claim is not recognised internationally and East Jerusalem is considered to be occupied territory." [2]

We recognise that no news organisation is infallible and genuine mistakes can happen, but we are particularly concerned to see that the programme in question is still accessible online and continues to falsely refer to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. As such, we urge the BBC to recognise the inaccuracy of the statement by publishing a retraction on its website. We also request that the BBC takes measures to ensure that such a profound mistake regarding a very politically sensitive and emotive situation is not made again. We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience, preferably via email at mpacuk40@yahoo.co.uk.

Yours sincerely,

Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPACUK)
Arab Media Watch
Dr Naseem (Chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque)
Dr Azam Tamimi (Director of the Institute of Islamic Thought in London)
Friends of Al Aqsa 

References:

[1] Arab Media Watch

[2] 'Israel and the Palestinians: Key terms'

See our previous ALERTS for more background on our campaign:

MPACUK Video Alert - No BBC, Jerusalem Is Not The Capital Of Israel!

No BBC, Jerusalem Is Not The Capital Of Israel!

OUTRAGE As BBC Fail to Correct False Claims!

Stay tuned for another update shortly on this campaign as we bring you what happens when we ring the BBC production team demanding they issue a public apology for their error and take measures to ensure such an error does not occur again.

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