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Defining Israel's Capital

(Jerusalem Post) Trevor Asserson and Baruch Baigel - Earlier this year, the Guardian published "Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel, Tel Aviv is." In response, media watchdog HonestReporting lodged a complaint to the UK's Press Complaints Commission (PCC) claiming that the Guardian's statement was inaccurate and therefore in breach of the Editors' Code of Practice. The Oxford English Dictionary defines capital city as: "The city or town that functions as the seat of government and administrative center of a country or region." All three branches of Israel's central government (its legislature, primary executive offices and supreme court) are located in Jerusalem and not Tel Aviv, as are the Prime Minister's and President's residences. A sovereign state has the right to designate the location of its capital city. It is an internal domestic question, with which international law does not concern itself. A sovereign state may even decide to relocate its capital city as did Brazil (from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia) or Germany (from Bonn to Berlin). Statements in the British media which deny that Jerusalem is Israel's capital imply that Israel, unlike any other sovereign state, does not have the right to designate the location of its capital city. As a result of threatened legal action against the PCC, the Guardian printed a correction which stated "we accept that it is wrong to state that Tel Aviv - the country's financial and diplomatic center - is the capital." The authors are solicitors at Asserson Law Offices.
2012-08-30 00:00:00
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