How the world media minimizes Israel’s Jewishness

I thought I’d see what Google News had to show me about the number of media outlets correctly proclaiming the Temple Mount Judaism’s holiest site. I used the exact search phrase “Judaism’s holiest site.”

Here’s what came up: The AP, Reuters, and the papers that carry them all get it wrong, and incorrectly state that the Western Wall is “Judaism’s holiest site.” It is not. The Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site. The Western Wall is the remnant of the retaining wall around the Temple Mount.

Who gets it right? Jewish and Christian news sources.

There are two reasons why this error is so grievous: The first is because this is an easily-researched piece of information. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with Judaism knows that the Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site. It doesn’t speak well for the MSM claim that their layers of editors and fact-checkers are what differentiates them from bloggers when they can’t correctly identify the holiest site in Judiasm. The Wall has become over the centuries a place laden with reverence—but it is not our holiest site.

The second reason is the one that is the most disturbing: I believe that it is yet another way to minimize Jewish ties to Jerusalem and Israel. I believe it is a deliberate error on the part of the world media, who downplay the Jewishness of Jerusalem, the ties of Jews to Israel over the millennia, and even the ties to the Temple Mount—because a few centuries ago, Muslims did what Muslims do and co-opted our religious site for their own purposes. (See: Mosques built over Hindu Temples, India).

When the world media plays into this scenario by being unable or unwilling to correctly identify Judaism’s holiest site, it minimizes Judaism’s ties to Israel and maximizes Muslim ties, the result being the image of Jews as outsiders. We expect that from the Arab press. I found a Gulf News article that completely stripped out any mention at all of the Temple Mount from the Reuters article it quoted. But we shouldn’t expect it from the mainstream media. They’re the ones that are supposed to tell the truth via the unbiased, unvarnished facts. And the unbiased, unvarnished fact is that the Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site. The Al-Aqsa mosque was built on top of the remains of the Temple—deliberately so, during the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem. When Arab leaders talk about Israel “Judaizing” Jerusalem, what they are doing is flat out lying. Jerusalem was the capital of Israel centuries before Mohammed was born. There has been a steady Jewish presence for over 3,500 years.

Jews don’t desecrate Islamic holy sites. Muslims, however, have desecrated and are still descrating Jewish holy sites. And the world is complicit in those actions by pretending that the Temple Mount “compound” isn’t the holiest site in Judaism.

Jews are not “colonialists” in Israel. They created the nation, millennia ago. The Muslims are, in effect, the colonialists.

And now, a short list of articles that misidentify Judaism’s holiest site. And please note that one AP or Reuters article equals hundreds, if not thousands, of incorrect articles going around the world.

The incorrect AP article that misidentifies the Western Wall as Judaism’s holiest site (see above).

A Reuters article from Feb. 5th that carries the Hamas threats about the dig also misidentifies the Western Wall as “Judaism’s holiest site.” This is the standard Reuters boilerplate that is incorrectly identifying the Western Wall throughout their news and feature articles.

The Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques sit above the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, in an area referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the al-Haram al-Sherif.

A Reuters feature from January that misidentifies the Western Wall as “Judaism’s holiest site” in the lede:

JERUSALEM, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Israeli excavations near Jerusalem’s most sensitive shrine have sparked fury among Muslims who fear such works endanger its foundations, but officials involved say they will not damage the holy site.

Israeli authorities are involved in a few excavation projects near al-Haram al-Sharif, the site of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque where the biblical Jewish Temples once stood. The Western Wall — Judaism’s holiest site — overlooks the shrine in the Israeli-annexed old city of Jerusalem.

Another article from Reuters (King Abdullah “condemns” the dig) which also misidentifies the Western Wall as “Judaism’s holiest site.”

The Aqsa Mosque and another mosque called the Dome of the Rock sit above the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, on land referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the al-Haram al-Sherif.

Yet another article from Reuters (this one about Saudi anger) that misidentifies the Wall as “Judaism’s holiest site.” (This link will probably not break, but the first will.)

Still another Reuters article, this one from February 3rd, that misidentifies the Wall as “Judaism’s holiest site.”

The Aqsa Mosque and another mosque called the Dome of the Rock sit above the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, on land referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the al-Haram al-Sherif.

An article from the Christian Broadcasting Network (Pat Robertson’s company) that says a more precise location of the Second Temple has been found (and Al-Aqsa wasn’t built on part of it). This article, by the way, correctly identifies the Temple Mount as Judaism’s holiest site.

Another AP article that misidentifies the Wall as “Judaism’s holiest site.”

Israeli archeologists vigorously denied the Dome of the Rock would be harmed, showing journalists repairs to a wooden foot bridge were 50 metres from the Dome, which is Islam’s third holiest site and where Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. The bridge has been used by Jewish women going to pray at the Western Wall, which is Judaism’s holiest site.

Two articles from the Jerusalem Post, which have no problem identifying the Temple Mount correctly. (The second article announces the more precise location of the Second Temple.)

An article in Al Jazeera which misidentifies the Wall as “Judaism’s holiest site” and is probably taken from AP.