Controversy after competitor ruled wrong for saying church at birthplace of Jesus was in Palestine

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

Political controversy over the location of the oldest church in Christianity is threatening to overshadow what should be the popular US game show Jeopardy’s finest moment, a special all-star tournament that drew 45 million viewers in only three days.

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The question about whether the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is in the Palestinian territories or Israel came during a regular game on Friday, outside the special event featuring the three best-known contestants in the history of the show.

In ruling a competitor wrong for answering that the church at the birthplace of Jesus was in Palestine, and docking her $200, Jeopardy’s judges sparked a social media storm that could still be swirling when the tournament of champions returns to screens on Tuesday.

“Jeopardy owes an apology for endorsing Israel’s universally condemned illegal takeover of the Palestinian lands,” said Omar Baddar, deputy director of the Arab American Institute, in a tweet.

“Katie Needle got the correct answer and was robbed.”

Needle, a retail supervisor from Brooklyn, New York, had the $200 quietly returned to her during a commercial break, according to some sharp-eyed viewers. She went on to win the episode, making her a two-day champion with $53,602 in the bank.

But the show’s longtime host, Alex Trebek, who is currently battling stage four pancreatic cancer, did not acknowledge the rectification and did not award Needle the extra $200 a correct answer would have earned.

The clue, in the category Where’s That Church, was “Built in the 300s AD, the Church of the Nativity”. After Needle was ruled incorrect, contest Jack McGuire buzzed in with “Israel”. He was awarded the $200.

The prominent political pollster James Zogby was another to weigh in, branding the decision to mark Needle wrong “outrageous”.

“If ‘Israel’ had been the answer it would have been bad enough,” he wrote. “But the fact that she gave ‘Palestine’ as the … answer and was told it was wrong makes it an outrage and an insult to history, reality, the thousands of oppressed Palestinians of Bethlehem.”

The Church of the Nativity dates to 325AD and is a recognised world heritage site. Israel has occupied the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, since the Six Day War of 1967, although under a United Nations security council resolution, the international community refuses to accept Israeli sovereignty.

Donald Trump fuelled the already fiery dispute by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem in 2018, recognising the city as the capital of Israel. Dozens of Palestinians were killed and 1,200 injured by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip in ensuing protests.

Sony Pictures Television, which produces Jeopardy for NBC, did not respond to reporters’ requests for comment.

On Sunday evening, the latest posts on the show’s official Twitter feed referred only to the greatest of all time tournament between its three most successful contestants: Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter.