ATHENS 2004: Israel doesn't have a capital city

[editor]

According to the official website of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Israel doesn't have a capital city.

It all began last Sunday (Feb. 29, 2004).

Someone decided that Jerusalem is the capital city of both Israel and "Palestine".


(from the official website of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Feb. 29, 2004).

Obviously, a country that doesn't exist can't have a capital city, and many people protested the mistake.

The protest continued for two days, after which someone at the site decided to remove Jerusalem from being listed as the capital of "Palestine".

However, they also removed Jerusalem from being the capital of Israel, replacing it with Tel-Aviv. Yes, you got it right. They simply decided that Tel-Aviv is Israel's capital.


(from the official website of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Mar. 2, 2004).

As can be expected, this move by the Olympic Games' website was followed by more protest, explaining to the website's operators that Tel-Aviv is not Israel's capital city.

Again, the protest continued for two days, after which someone at the site decided that Israel will have no capital city.


(from the official website of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Mar. 4, 2004).

As you will notice, the Olympic organizers listed Israel's languages as follows: "Hebrew (official), Arabic, English." As a matter of fact, in addition to Hebrew, Arabic is also an official language of Israel.

In a new twist, today (March 5, 2004), the site's operators decided to remove Arabic and English and leave only "Hebrew (official)" under Israel's languages.


(from the official website of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Mar. 5, 2004).

Israel's page in the official website of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games seems to be updated and change quite frequently - but not for the better.

* When it comes to sport (and music i.e. the Eurovision Song Contest), Israel is part of Europe and is a member of European sports federations.

The reason is Arab opposition to Israel joining the Asian sports federations, where she geographically belongs. In addition, most Middle Eastern countries refuse to play against Israel in International sports events.

Please let the people of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games know what you think.

You can write them here.

Comment on this article using the "Post Reply" button

[bacon]

Who on earth is producing your list of participating countries? Osam Bin Laden? The Greek fear of Arab wrath is only too well known, but when you listed Israel as a participant you didn't even know which continent it was on! Or did the Arabs advise you? Like the Arab countries, Israel is in EUROPE, THE CAPITAL IS JERUSALEM AND ARABIC IS AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. English is an unofficial language.

As for "Palestine" a country that does not officially exist, the currency is certainly not the Jordanian dinar (or dinarius as you wrongly translate it) but the Israeli shekel.

Just what do you hope to gain from your shameful discrimination against Israel. Your site translations make you a laughing stock. But then, you are probably using "volunteers" like previous Olympic Games. Not a good idea when your national language (Greek) is one that is known to so few people. Watch out for more howlers.
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Josephine Bacon
American Pie Translations
179 Kings Cross Road
London WC1X 9BZ

[bfried1]

If this will be a double posting I apologise. I was kicked off my a Microsoft ERROR notice on my first attempt.

If you follow the Greek NOC registration, this organization is being Politically Correct by following the U.N. methodology in not recognizing Israel's capital either! See ling at : http://www.unece.org/stats/trend/isr.pdf

A POX on both their houses.

[dsesq]

The Greeks can't get over the fact that 2500 years after the fall of their civilization, Judaism and its nation march forward, stronger militarily and economically than the Greek homeland and its foul aired, wretched capital, Athens.
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Once in a while you get shone the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right

[elidavid]

Greece is the EU's symbol of backwarndess and economical failure. As the previous poster mentioned, the whole country looks like a wreckage from a distant history.

Hardly a country that can tell us where our capital is...
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"Without victory there is no survival" --Winston Churchill

[Elisheba]

The Olympics have meant NOTHING to me since Munich, 1972.

However, I do understand that the Greek government is shaking in their collective boots lest they do anything which might incur the wrath of the Islamofascists within and/or without Greek borders.

[stevegoodman]

Nothing unexpected here. The Athens 2004 Olympic Commitee is simply ignoring the truth and reality of Israel's political and language culture because that reality doesn't suit them. This is convenient so that when G-d forbid, a la Munich, Israeli athletes are murdered at the 2004 Olympic Games, they will have come from a country without a capital that doesn't recognize the language rights of 20% of its citizens, and so it won't be hardly worthy of mentioning.

[dionmag]

Greeks might be used to fooling other Greeks but they look ridiculous in the eyes of the international community when posting information on their web site that a school child would know is incorrect.
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Dion

[humus_sapiens]

True, this is official UN position. The question is not even East Jerusalem lost by Jordan to Israel in 1967 after it's been illegally occupied for 19 years, where many Jewish holy sites and cemeteries desecrated. The UN did not complain then.

The issue here is the legitimacy of Jewish state and its capital. Even bigger issue is the importance of Jerusalem to Jews and Judaism.

FYI, there is ongoing edit war going on in Wikipedia (it's open, anyone can contribute):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Jerusalem

Where bigots (some very educated and outspoken) can't swallow the simple fact that Jerusalem IS the capital of Israel. See the history and the diffs. Similar battles go on with many other articles related to Israel and Antisemitism, under pretense of neutral point of view (NPOV).
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If the Arabs drop their weapons, there would be no war. If the Jews drop their weapons, there would be no Israel.

[bacon]

This is a correction to my previous posting. I mean to write "Israel is NOT in Europe" the Greeks also put Israel in Europe! This is no doubt to distance it from the Arab countries which are not.

I fully agree that the Olympic Games are a farce, a massively corrupt and money-making venture dressed up as some sort of noble and aspirational achievement. I should know, I worked at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and also interpreted for the BBC the press conference at which the International Olympic Committee admitted they had accepted massive bribes to grant Salt Lake City the Winter Olympics. Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former chairman, was a fascist, close friend of Franco, who behaved appalling to Mark Spitz because he was Jewish.
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Josephine Bacon
American Pie Translations
179 Kings Cross Road
London WC1X 9BZ

[genesala]

Well, there they go again! Trying to define the world "as they see it". From the standpoint of world view, Israel's capital is Jerusalem. And in the broadest sense always and eternally was and always, notwithstanding of what their definition of "is" is, still is!

As to Israel's geography and languages, World Book Encyclopedia and a copy of the Rand-McNally World Atlas are necessary references for the committee to heed.

But, hey, in love and war: Beware of Greeks....and any gifts!

Gene Salamon
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Paradox

[Dr. kleber]

What do you all want from the Greeks?

Even the US don't recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel... So many US presidents, senators, congressmen promised to move US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem... There are US laws about it... With deadlines... But again and again they chickened out out of fear from the Arab "friends"... Every time they just move the deadline... And the American Jews? They don't even make it an issue in election campaigns...

Here's one example from 1999:

http://www.conservativenews.or.....0329f.html

"Just two months away from the due date for the U.S. to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, there is no sign of any activity on the vacant property in the Israeli capital staked out for the mission.

Because of the sensitivity of the question of Jerusalem, the Clinton Administration has taken no steps towards honoring a 1995 law requiring the move, and seems unlikely to do so, short of a final negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

A senator has now raised a suggestion he said offers the White House a way out, while not risking America's role in peacemaking efforts.

The Jerusalem Embassy Act, approved in October 1995 by 93 to 5 vote in the Senate, and 374 to 37 in the House, stipulates that the embassy be moved by May 31 this year.

President Bill Clinton warned it "could hinder the peace process" but allowed it to become law several weeks later without his signature."

Blah Blah Blah...

What do you want from the Greeks?

[Elisheba]

Dr. Kleber, take the issue of Jerusalem off the table then.

Please read all the other errors made by the Olympic Committee. Check out the 1st post in more detail.

This is not just about Jerusalem.

Please do not be an apologist.

[Dr. kleber]

[Nikki Michel]

I was outraged to learn that the official Athens Olympic website does not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Further, the website fails to record Israel's official languages as Hebrew and Arabic, with English being an unofficial, yet widely spoken language.
Palestine is NOT a country and therefore cannot have a capital. When is the world going to stop giving in to terror and begin realising that the way to combat fanaticism is by standing up to it rather than hiding from it. Jerusalem must be recognised as the capital of Israel, a democratic and peace seeking country who allows religious freedom to all its citizens. I call on the Athens' Olympic Committee to see the inaccuracies on the website are rectified immediately.

Regards
Nikki Michel
Concerned Australian Citizen.
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Nikki Michel