On Friday, May 20th, 2016 Al Jazeera’s Arabic website reported that a group of Muslim countries condemned a photo exhibit by Israel at United Nations (UN) headquarters portraying Jerusalem as the “capital of the Jewish people.”
To some Muslims and Palestinians, some of the photo captions could be construed as deliberately provocative. Al Jazeera noted another caption read “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel.” Strong language, indeed. Jerusalem is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
It didn’t take long for Muslim states around the world to voice their outrage. Palestinian officials reportedly demanded the UN take down the exhibit. The UN says the content in such exhibitions is solely the responsibility of the member state, however.
Late last week, several pro-Israel tweeters took to Twitter to in turn proclaim Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in response to the reactions around the Muslim world towards the exhibit.
Israel regards the entirety of Jerusalem as its capital and most of its important state institutions are located in the city. East Jerusalem, on the other hand, is considered occupied by most countries and the State of Palestine claims this part of the city as its capital.
--AL
