Indy is fourth UK news site this year forced to correct claim that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital

This represents at least the fourth British media correction this year to a false claim that Tel Aviv is Israel's capital.

Earlier, we tweeted this to journalist Caroline Mortimer in response to her article published today (Sept. 14th) at the Independent titled “US agrees to give Israel $38bn in military aid despite tensions over Iran deal and West Bank settlements policy”.

We also were among those who logged an official complaint at the Indy.

A couple of hours later, they corrected the sentence, and replaced Tel Aviv with Israel.

Interestingly, this represents at least the fourth such British media correction this year to a false claim regarding Tel Aviv’s status.

  • In August, UK Media Watch prompted a correction to a Guardian report which included a sentence suggesting to readers that Tel Aviv was Israel’s capital.
  • In June, UK Media Watch prompted a correction to a Times of London article which twice used “Tel Aviv” as a synonym for Israel’s capital.
  • In March, UK Media Watch prompted a correction at the Daily Mirror in an article which explicitly referred to Tel Aviv as the nation’s capital.

For more background on the British media’s continuing problems with accurately naming Israel’s capital, see here and here.

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