CAMERA’s Israel office last week prompted correction of a United Press International article which incorrectly stated: “The establishment of an embassy in Jerusalem will be the first by a foreign government in Israel.”
CAMERA contacted UPI, noting that numerous embassies have previously existed in Jerusalem. As Haaretz reported:
But there was a period in Israels [sic] short history when at least 16 states had their ambassadors stationed in the city.
Three of them were African nations – Ivory Coast, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Kenya; 11 were from Latin America – Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Uruguay and Venezuela, opening embassies as early as the 1950s; as well as the Netherlands and Haiti.
Although these embassies all closed by 1980, Costa Rica and El Salvador reopened their embassies in West Jerusalem, where they remained from 1984 to 2006.
In response to communication from CAMERA, UPI commendably amended the text, which now accurately states: “The establishment of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem will be the first by any foreign government there in over a decade.” (It also links to the detailed Haaretz source that CAMERA provided.)
Contrary to common journalistic practice, editors did not append a note to the bottom of the article alerting readers to the change.
Hat tip to Arnold Roth. For additional UPI corrections prompted by CAMERA, please see here.