As Charles has already reported, thanks to the public outcry, CNN has caved in and now Jerusalem, Israel exists on their site! However the other issues I raised have not been addressed. Gaza and the West Bank are still listed as separate countries, and the non-existent Arab villages are still listed as cities.
A number of commenters here and on LGF have raised the possibility that with regard to this last issue, CNN are just using a predefined list of weather stations. While I have not had the chance to confirm this with the Israeli meteorological folk, Israellycool reader Laura writes:
For as long as I can remember, when you clicked on the CNN drop-down menu for cities in Israel you got a short list of the major cities in Israel: Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel-Aviv, Beersheba, Tiberias, Eilat. Then about 6 weeks ago they added all the Arab names, but Jerusalem was still on the list. Then about 3-4 weeks ago they removed Jerusalem from the list. So I would say it’s a very deliberate change.
So as far as I am concerned, CNN has still got a long way to go – as well as a lot of explaining to do. Which means our work is not yet complete.
Update: Now Jerusalem is back on the list of cities (Thanks to Sabba Hillel for the heads-up).
