Petition urges The Jerusalem Post to nix ‘West Bank’ in reporting on biblical heartland

The appeal was launched following a tweet against the newspaper by a right-wing Israeli parliamentarian in the wake of Monday’s shooting attack by the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq near Kedumim.

By JNS

A group of conservative Jewish and Christian leaders has launched a public petition urging The Jerusalem Post to stop using the term “West Bank” in reporting on Israel’s biblical heartland and to call it by its historic name of Judea and Samaria.

“As Israel’s oldest English newspaper when it was called ‘The Palestine Post,’ The Jerusalem Post holds significant influence in shaping public opinion, influencing policies, and defining global narratives,” the petition addressed to Eli Azur, the media outlet’s owner, and Zvika Klein, its editor-in-chief, stated.

“Your words and your headlines matter as Israel fights on the front lines and the front pages of media outlets around the globe.”

The appeal was launched following a tweet against the newspaper by a right-wing Israeli parliamentarian in the wake of Monday’s shooting attack by the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq near Kedumim.

“It’s heartbreaking enough that Jewish blood is flowing needlessly in our biblical heartland,” MK Ohad Tal from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party wrote on X.

“It’s time for you to join hundreds of media outlets in calling our homeland by its correct name, ‘Judea and Samaria.’ Only the truth will help us overcome our enemies’ murders and lies.”

The attack killed three Israelis, including two women in their 70s and an Israeli police officer who was gunned down in his car in front of his young son.

The petition to The Jerusalem Post further stated that by “referring to today’s attack in Kedumim, which killed three and injured eight as occurring in the ‘West Bank,’ your headline leads credence to those delegitimizing Israel.”

Troy Miller, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, the largest association of Christian media broadcasters, urged association members during their annual convention in February 2024 to cease using the term “West Bank” when reporting about Israel’s biblical heartland.

“Words matter in how we control the conversation and the language,” Miller said. “Younger Christians don’t understand that the West Bank is within the biblical boundaries of Israel.”