Capital Confusion

Once again SEOMoz is opening for nominations to host the MozCation. Miriam Schwab and the good folk at illuminea have submitted a nomination on behalf of the nation’s capital and all of the SEO community in Jerusalem have rallied behind it.

This comes when Jerusalem’s place in the international community comes under scrutiny. The BBC website listed the capitals of all of the countries in the world and Jerusalem was not mentioned. This resulted in a massive campaign trying to convince the BBC that Jerusalem is infact the capital of Israel.

Not that this contentious issue is a new one. There are no embassies in Jerusalem. They are all located in Tel Aviv. The only embassy to be located in Jerusalem in the International Christian Embassy – that is irony for you.

Of course this is due to United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 where the UN basically told all of its member to take its embassies out of Jerusalem. The Resolution passed 14 to 0 with one abstention that belonged to the USA.

Who were some of the countries that voted this through? East Germany, Phillipines, Jamaica, Bangladesh and Zambia. Only three of the 10 non-permanent members were around for the Partition Plan. They were Mexico who abstained and Norway and the Philippines who both voted yes back in 1947.

Fast forward 33 years and Israel didn’t have a friend in the world.

Why is there so much confusion regarding Jerusalem and its status? Why would so many other countries care where another country puts its capital? For instance, South Africa has three capitals and not too many people are bothered by this except those who compete on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

In fact there are a whole bunch of countries that have more than one capital and no one cares but then again people don’t really care that much for Palau, Western Sahara, Tanzania and Swaziland.

But when it comes to Israel, these issues occupy column inches and are the cause of rallies and protests. Israel isn’t free to pick her own capital and have it recognized by the rest of the world. This is just one of the many double standards that Israelis have to put up with.

When I go to conventions overseas I want to proudly be able to say that I work at a SEO Company in Jerusalem, but some of the reactions I have received in the past have made me say I work at a SEO Company in Israel instead.

Hopefully Jerusalem’s bid for Mozcation will win and the SEO Community from all over the world will converge in Jerusalem. To be honest it doesn’t matter what anyone else in the world thinks as we will be having a capital time.