{"id":268564,"date":"2026-02-01T10:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T10:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/268564\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T10:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T10:54:21","slug":"britannica-removes-map-labeling-israel-as-palestine-after-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/268564\/","title":{"rendered":"Britannica removes map labeling Israel as ‘Palestine’ after backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Encyclopedia Britannica has removed a map from its Britannica Kids edition that labeled the territory of Israel as \u201cPalestine,\u201d following a complaint by a British pro-Israel legal group and media inquiry by The Telegraph. <\/p>\n

The change came after criticism that the educational content effectively erased the State of Israel and promoted a politically charged narrative.<\/p>\n

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3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05e6\u05d9\u05e7\u05dc\u05d5\u05e4\u05d3\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea<\/a>\"\u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05e6\u05d9\u05e7\u05dc\u05d5\u05e4\u05d3\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea<\/p>\n

A featured on Britannica labeling Israel as ‘Palestine’ after backlash <\/p>\n

(Illustration: from Telegraph)<\/p>\n

The map, published on the Britannica Kids website, showed the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea as \u201cPalestine,\u201d with no mention of Israel. A caption accompanying the map read: \u201cThe name Palestine refers to a region in the Middle East. The region lies between the Jordan River and the Medi\u00adter\u00adranean Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) said the depiction echoed the controversial slogan \u201cFrom the river to the sea,\u201d widely used by pro-Palestinian activists and militant groups, including Hamas, to describe a future Palestinian state encompassing all of Israel. UKLFI argued that Britannica\u2019s map promoted a modern political agenda and called for urgent corrections.<\/p>\n

In its letter to the encyclopedia\u2019s U.S.-based publishers, UKLFI wrote: \u201cThese descrip\u00adtions effect\u00adively erase the exist\u00adence of Israel, which in fact lies between the River Jordan and the Medi\u00adter\u00adranean sea. By defin\u00ading Palestine as extend\u00ading unin\u00adter\u00adrup\u00adted from the river to the sea, the entries closely mir\u00adror the lan\u00adguage and geo\u00adgraphic fram\u00ading of con\u00adtem\u00adpor\u00adary act\u00adiv\u00adist slo\u00adgans such as \u2018from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free\u2019. This phrase has been widely used as a ral\u00adly\u00ading cry for Palestinian ter\u00adror\u00adist groups and is con\u00adtained in the 2017 charter of the Hamas ter\u00adror\u00adist group, which led the Octo\u00adber 7 attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"\u05de\u05e4\u05d2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4<\/a>\"\u05de\u05e4\u05d2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4<\/p>\n

Protester flies a sign bearing the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ at a pro-Palestinian deomnstration in Athens, Greece <\/p>\n

(Photo: AP \/ Yorgos Karahalis)<\/p>\n

Following a Telegraph inquiry, Britannica removed the map from its site and updated the entry to reflect that \u201cToday the State of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip are loc\u00adated within this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s concerns were first raised in November 2024 by Shari Black, a London-based Jewish children\u2019s book writer with family in Israel. Black contacted Britannica directly and received a response saying the editorial team would review the issue, but she said she was not informed of any resulting changes. \u201cAccuracy is really important when you’re writing books for children and I was surprised that such a respected website would publish historic inaccuracies like this,\u201d Black told The Telegraph. \u201cIt pushes a certain agenda, an erasure of Israel, a delegitimization of the country\u2014even though it was established by international concensus.\u201d<\/p>\n

UKLFI also objected to broader language used in Britannica Kids, which referred to \u201cPalestine\u201d as a historical term dating back thousands of years. Historians cited by The Telegraph questioned this portrayal, noting the term \u201cPalestine\u201d was introduced by the Roman Emperor Hadrian only after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE to suppress Jewish identity in the region once known as Judea.<\/p>\n

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3 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05d4\u05e4\u05d2\u05e0\u05d4<\/a>\"\u05d4\u05e4\u05d2\u05e0\u05d4<\/p>\n

Pro-Palestinian demonstration at Columbia University, New York <\/p>\n

(Photo: Reuters)<\/p>\n

UKLFI Director Caroline Turner said retroactively applying the label \u201cPalestine\u201d across the region misrepresents historical developments and creates a false impression of continuity. <\/p>\n

In response, Britannica\u2019s editor-in-chief, Theodore Pappas, said the company would closely review the concerns. \u201cWe will review these claims by the UK Law\u00adyers for Israel and make adjust\u00adments to our con\u00adtent, if needed,\u201d Pappas said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Encyclopedia Britannica has removed a map from its Britannica Kids edition that labeled the territory of Israel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-268564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}