The BBC has caused anger after it posted a picture of the Temple Mount mosque with what appeared to be an Israeli flag flying from it.
The picture was published on the BBC’s Middle East section of its news website and formed part of its coverage of the terror attack in East Jerusalem today.
The story, headlined “Driver hits pedestrians in East Jerusalem” was live for some time but the link is no longer active.
BBC viewer Ian Taylor said: “This is a blatant attempt to try and provoke anti-Israeli feelings.
“I’ve done a Google image search to see if the picture’s been lifted off of the internet but can’t find anything, which suggests that some idiot in the BBC has done this himself.”
But a BBC spokesperson said the image has been sourced from the website of the EPA photo agency.
The spokesman said the photo was captioned: “Behind the dome is a very large Israeli flag flying from the roof of an apartment building in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
“It is nonsense to suggest that the BBC has superimposed an Israeli flag on a picture of the Dome of the Rock.
"This was an agency photo which showed a flag flying from a building behind the Dome.
"We realised quickly that the picture could be misunderstood and misrepresented, and given the sensitive nature of the story, we updated it with a different picture.”
At least 14 people were injured - three of them seriously - when a car was driven into pedestrians in Jerusalem. Hamas reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
