Israeli Media Told to Use Hebrew Names
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JERUSALEM — Israel’s state-run radio and television told its journalists today to use Hebrew instead of Arabic names for Arab towns, a change meant to emphasize the Jews’ historical claim to the holy land.
Arye Mekel, director of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, ordered journalists to avoid Arabic names for Arab areas of Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, said his spokeswoman, Ayala Cohen.
IBA Assistant Chairman Shlomo Kor, who proposed the change, said: “We came to the land of Israel and not to Palestine so I asked that these places be called by their Hebrew, biblical names.”
Staff at Israel Radio and the rival Army Radio said they had not yet received the order and would continue using the usual Arabic names for villages in the meantime.
“It’s not acceptable to me and it doesn’t seem logical,” an Israel Radio newsman said. “This is not a police state.” Other IBA journalists called the new policy a joke.
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