On 7 February, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Israel sent a letter to the Editor-in-Chief Yaakov Katz, expressing strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to The Jerusalem Post for publishing anti-China articles. The full text is as follows:
Recently, The Jerusalem Post published multiple articles maliciously attacking China and the Beijing Winter Olympics. The Chinese Embassy in Israel has lodged representations in various ways to refute the lies and clarify the truth. As the international community including Israel is enjoying the Winter Olympic Games, and as China and Israel are celebrating the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties, The Jerusalem Post, once again, published an article on February 7 that made groundless accusations on China and the Beijing Winter Olympics. We were shocked to see that the politically-biased article, full of lies and fallacies, insults the Olympic Movement and smears China’s image, for the publication of which we express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to The Jerusalem Post.
A few days ago, the Beijing Winter Olympics successfully kicked off. The opening ceremony was attended by around 170 official representatives from nearly 70 countries and international organizations, including 31 heads of state, heads of government, key members of royal families, and heads of international organizations. Many more state leaders and heads of international organizations made phone calls or sent letters to the Chinese leaders to wish the Beijing Winter Olympics a great success and the Chinese people a happy Lunar New Year, reflecting the international community's firm support for China, for the Beijing Winter Olympics, and for the Olympic Movement. Athletes from Israel and other countries are competing fairly and realizing their dreams in Beijing. Faced with the changing yet chaotic international landscape, peace, friendship, understanding, and inclusiveness are needed more than ever. The Beijing Winter Olympics adds solidarity to the world. The politicization of the Olympics by some anti-China elements who act like clowns is not only an abuse of world athletes’ human rights but also an affront to the Olympic spirit. Their unpopular attempt is doomed to fail.
As we noticed, many articles by the author were published on The Jerusalem Post spreading vicious slanders against China. It is contemptible that the articles were full of the Cold-War mentality and ideological prejudice without even looking at the truth. People would ask, what forces are behind this author to support the long-term groundless and malicious attacks on China? We warn those forces who smear China and undermine China-Israel friendly ties: justice shall always prevail. Their scheme will never succeed.
We urge The Jerusalem Post to stop publishing malicious slanders against China and provide the Chinese side with a balanced platform for stating the facts and our legitimate position.