Al-Aqsa Is in Occupied East Jerusalem, Not 'in Israel'. File a BBC Accuracy Complaint About From Our Own Correspondent.

From Our Own Correspondent, BBC Radio 4, 27 June 2026. The presenter put it like this: 'Today, we're in Israel where the status quo at Jerusalem's holiest site is under threat from Israeli nationalists.' That holiest site is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in East Jerusalem, which the BBC's own style guide calls occupied territory under international law. The despatch located it 'in Israel' and never once said the area is occupied. File a Stage 1 BBC complaint via the official Complaints API, anchored to Section 3 (Accuracy), in one click.

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A win. The BBC Complaints Team admitted in writing that the programme’s introduction contained a factual error by stating ‘we’re in Israel’ about the Al-Aqsa/Temple Mount compound, which its reply confirms is located in occupied East Jerusalem. The error has been removed from BBC Sounds and the programme podcast, and the feedback has been shared with the senior editorial team. The action window here has closed and no further complaints will be filed. We are still pressing for the correction to be logged on the BBC’s public corrections and clarifications page, and for the BBC to examine how an error that contradicts its own style guide made it to air. Read the BBC’s response on the responses page.

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About this campaign

On 27 June 2026, BBC Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent introduced a despatch from Jerusalem with these words: 'Today, we're in Israel where the status quo at Jerusalem's holiest site is under threat from Israeli nationalists.' The holiest site is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the Haram al-Sharif (also called the Temple Mount), in the Old City of East Jerusalem.

This was not an unscripted slip. The BBC's own published episode billing carries the same framing in writing: 'In Israel, Wyre Davies reports on how the decades old agreement known as the Status Quo is under threat, as Israeli nationalists flout the rules that govern Jerusalem's holiest site, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary).' It opens 'In Israel' while describing a site in occupied East Jerusalem.

Why 'in Israel' is inaccurate. East Jerusalem is occupied territory under international law. The BBC's own published style guide on Israel and the Palestinians says so in plain terms: 'Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967. It annexed the area in 1980 and sees it as its exclusive domain. Under international law the area is considered to be occupied territory.' The same guidance tells BBC journalists not to suggest that East Jerusalem is part of Israel.