UKMW prompts correction to Indy claim that no Arabs in Jerusalem are citizens

Whilst it's true that MOST of the more than 325,00 Arabs living in the city are permanent residents, thousands are full Israeli citizens.  Roughly 7 percent of the city's Arabs (more than 20,000 people) are Israeli citizens and have the same rights (including the right to vote in national elections) as all other citizens.

The Independent published an article (Outrage over new Israeli law allowing Palestinians in Jerusalem to be stripped of residency, March 11) by their Middle East correspondent Bethan McKernan which claims that “Arabs living in [Jerusalem] do not have Israeli citizenship”.

This is not an accurate statement.

Whilst it’s true that most of the more than 325,000 Arabs living in the city are permanent residents, thousands are full Israeli citizens.  Roughly 7 percent of the city’s Arabs (more than 20,000 people) are citizens and have the same rights (including the right to vote in national elections) as all other Israelis.

In 2015, CAMERA prompted a New York Times correction to the same false claim:Just a few days ago, CAMERA prompted a Haaretz correction to an article which similarly claimed that “Jerusalem’s Palestinians have no right to vote for the Knesset.”  The new language now includes accurate statistics on the percentage of Palestinians who have citizenship and can vote for the Knesset.

After tweeting the journalist, we contacted Indy editors and our complaint was ultimately upheld. The new language now accurately notes only that “most Arabs” in the city don’t have citizenship. 

(This post is available in Arabic, here.)

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