I am used to seeing French or Lebanese newspapers writing inflammatory and biased statements against Israel. I am not, however, used to seeing things like this in a respected United States newspaper. Washington Post Foreign Service writer Griff Witte (click on his name to send him an e-mail complaint) has titled an article:

Israel Plans New Housing In Occupied E. Jerusalem

What are the key inflammatory, anti-Israel terms here? Lets break it down. The two terms that I will discuss in this headline are “occupied” and “E. Jerusalem”.

I will start with East Jerusalem, because it is easier to discuss. Mr. Witte has apparently never been to Jerusalem. I spent time living on Har Hatsofim (Mount Scopus) which is in “East Jerusalem”, which is near the grocery store I walked to and from without passing a boarder to Givat Sarfatit (French Hill), which is also “East Jerusalem”. I often took a Shabbos walk down to the Old City, which is in, yet again “East Jerusalem”. The term East Jerusalem is biased against Israel. It makes it sound like a separate city/territory. A Jew or an Arab living in “East Jerusalem” can easily walk to “West Jerusalem”.

“East Jerusalem” is as separate and occupied from Jerusalem as “East Washington, DC”, which is in land occupied by the United States from the British, who originally settled the colonies. Doesn’t that sound ludicrous? So does “East Jerusalem”, which is part of Israel.

I have discussed occupied before on this blog. Occupied is a term used very loosely around Israel. Occupied, by definition, is a military rule over another people in territory not legally a part of the nation of the military force. Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are legally part of Israel. All countries do not recognize this, but enough do that it is not a major issue. Gaza is not occupied, as all Israelis left. The West Bank is debatable, and I will not argue that in this post. Jerusalem, is not occupied however. This term is inflammatory and inaccurate.

Please take a minute to write the author of this or any article if you find it biased. If you get no response or a rude response, write their editor.