Israeli rights group urges public broadcaster to stop referring to ‘West Bank’

The term “damages public diplomacy,” and therefore, Judea and Samaria should be employed, B’Tslamo CEO Shai Glick says.

By JNS

Shai Glick, the CEO of the B’Tslamo rights group, wrote a letter on Wednesday to the Kan Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation urging it to have its journalists stop using the term “West Bank” for Judea and Samaria.

In the letter to Kan CEO Golan Yochpaz, Glick noted that the official term in Israel for the territories captured in the Six-Day War is Judea and Samaria.

“It is incorrect that the state corporation uses the foreign term ‘West Bank,’ which is left over from the Jordanian occupation before 1967,” wrote Glick.

“West Bank” originated as a shortened version of “The West Bank of the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan”

He previously raised the issue with the company, which contended that journalists employ the term “West Bank” when Palestinian issues are being discussed, whereas Judea and Samaria are used when addressing Israeli matters.

“But, in fact, even in regard to Israeli topics, such as terror attacks on Israelis, they [Kan] use the term ‘West Bank,’” Glick wrote in his letter.

“The term ‘West Bank’ damages public diplomacy since it connects the region to the Jordanian kingdom and does not reflect the ancient connection of the Jewish people with Judea and Samaria,” he added.

“I demand that you take action and clarify procedures so that Kan in English will only use the official term that is used in the State of Israel: Judea and Samaria,” Glick wrote.