CAMERA’s Israel office today prompts correction of Associated Press article which incorrectly identified Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital. The article (“For Congress, defense contracts are like baseball, apple pie,” Dec. 13) had originally reported:
Israel and several other U.S. allies are also buying the F-35, expanding the program’s international footprint. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited Israel on Monday as Tel Aviv received the first two next-generation F-35 fighter jets that will help preserve the country’s military edge in the volatile Mideast.
This is a case of an error in the journalistic practice of naming a nation’s capital as shorthand for the country’s government. For instance, “Washington” is shorthand for the U.S. government because it is the capital. (Here, the reporter was clearly trying to avoid using “Israel” twice in one sentence.)
But Israel’s capital is Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv. The Prime Minister’s bureau is located in Jerusalem, next to the Foreign Ministry, the Bank of Israel, and across the street from the Supreme Court and the Knesset. While Israel’s Ministry of Defense is in Tel Aviv, the U.S. Department of Defense is in Arlington County, Virginia and yet the AP does not refer to “Arlington County” selling F-35s to Israel, for instance. (Also, it should be noted, that the jets landed in southern Israel, not Tel Aviv or greater Tel Aviv.)
Israel and several other U.S. allies are also buying the F-35, expanding the program’s international footprint. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited Israel on Monday as the Jewish state received the first two next-generation F-35 fighter jets that will help preserve the country’s military edge in the volatile Mideast.
CAMERA’s timely action and AP’s quick correction underscores the value of CAMERA’s work monitoring and responding to wire stories in the same news cycle as they appear. With this timely, preemptive work, CAMERA’s Israel office helps prevent misinformation from appearing in media outlets around the world.
CAMERA has previously prompted correction on this identical misrepresentation at other media outlets including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor‘s Monitor Global Outlook and The Boston Globe.
For additional AP corrections prompted by CAMERA, please see here.