Russia Recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

The Jerusalem Post article, “Jpost Exclusive: Moscow Surprisingly Says West Jerusalem is Israel’s Capital” published on April 6, 2017 and written by Herb Keinon, covers Russia's decision to recognize west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The key takeaway from this article is that Russia’s move is controversial because no other country in the world recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The reason for this is because of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The article starts by giving some perspective to the situation, stating that the Trump administration has been struggling to decide whether they should move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement about acknowledging the Israeli capital as west Jerusalem and the Palestinian capital as east Jerusalem, and plans to immediately put this into effect. Continuing to give context, the article says that this move is vastly different from Russia’s past policies, where they believed Jerusalem should be under permanent international regime. Alexander Shein, Russia’s Ambassador to Israel, does not plan to move the Russian embassy to Jerusalem and plans to discuss the recognition with the Israeli  Foreign Ministry in more detail. Israel is proceeding cautiously to release a statement and the author believes that this is because they annexed the entire city of Jerusalem in 1980. The Russian statement directly contradicts this claim. Moscow’s statement discusses a continuation of the Middle East peace process, and that Russia supports the two-state solution. They also believe that Israel and Palestine “could live in peace and security with each other and with their neighbors.” Finally, the article closes with a diplomatic official’s response to the situation. This official believes Russia’s actions are attempting to divert attention from the recent chemical attacks in Syria, and show that Russia wants to play a proactive role in the future diplomatic process between Israel and Palestine.

President Putin and Prime Minister Netanyahu 

The authors qualifications come into question, when assessing the reliability of the sources provided. The author, Herb Keinon, has a BA in political science from the University of Colorado and an MA in Journalism from the University of Illinois. He has published two books about Israel, and writes for the Jerusalem Post about a wide variety of topics pertaining to Israel. Most of the article’s information comes from the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement, and as the author said, it can be found on their website in English. This is an extremely reliable source, since the author often simply quoted it, without altering the context. For other pieces of data, like Moscow's recognition to go immediately into effect, the author assures the reader that it was information that the Jerusalem Post verified. This data seems reasonably reliable, and other news outlets, such as the Daily Sabah, cite this information to the Jerusalem Post. The reliability of the data on  Russia’s Ambassador's plan, Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry provide no links and their statements are not public. As this information is believed to be gathered by the author, or the Jerusalem Post, it is only as reliable as their trustworthiness. Once again, other new outlets cite this information back to the Jerusalem Post, which speaks to its veracity. The final  piece of data is probably the most questionable, as it is an unnamed source and not quoted. The diplomatic official’s stance leaves room for doubt, but does not mean it should be disregarded. The reliability of this data stems from the credibility of the author. The information presented are either from the Russian Foreign Ministry or gathered from the author and the Jerusalem Post. The article has almost no links to support its claims but, as stated, the Russian Foreign Ministry has data on their website.


Herb Keinon’s point of view is fairly factual, yet cynical of Russia’s true intentions. Most of the information that was given came directly from the statement the author was reporting on. The quotes the author presents from this statement are all about Russia’s aims and concerns, which were not taken out of context or contained any outrageous stances. In the article, the author also makes an attempt to get Israel’s official position, but they were not ready to release it. This reinforces the author's attempt to be objective. Keinon’s opinion, “Israel may be wary of applauding such a move,” shows an understanding of the larger issues involving Israel’s claim to all of  Jerusalem. Although he fairly states all the facts given by the Russian Foreign Ministry, he questions their intent with his final paragraph. The unnamed diplomatic official’s stance tries to ascertain what Russia’s motives are, which is merely speculative. Therefore Keinon’s point of view appears to question Russia’s goals.