Popular American game show Jeopardy! has been plunged into controversy after a contestant was told she had the wrong answer after identifying Jesus’s place of birth, the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, as being in “Palestine.”

Al-Jazeera (h/t Maurice) he incident took place in round one of the game broadcast on Friday, when Katie Needle was given the clue: “Built in the 300s A.D., the Church of the Nativity”, under the category “Where’s that Church?”. Needle, a retail supervisor from Brooklyn, responded it was in Palestine but was told her answer was wrong. he incident took place in round one of the game broadcast on Friday, when Katie Needle was given the clue: “Built in the 300s A.D., the Church of the Nativity”, under the category “Where’s that Church?”. Needle, a retail supervisor from Brooklyn, responded it was in Palestine but was told her answer was wrong.

One of the other two contestants, Jack McGuire, then buzzed in with the reply “Israel”, which host Alex Trebek accepted as correct.

The Church of Nativity, declared a World Heritage Site, is located in Bethlehem in the Judea- & Samari in Israel (which Jordan identified as the West Bank which it had illegally occupied until the 1967 War.

Christian pilgrims and tourists from across the globe visit Bethlehem (the birthplace of the Jewish King Jesus) throughout the year, especially for religious festivals such as Christmas.

The incident was picked up by Muslim on social media with many criticizing the show’s producers and host and demanding they apologize. (No need to apologize for telling the truth)

Omar Ghraieb, a Palestinian writer based in Gaza, told Al Jazeera: “What happened is inexcusable. Jeopardy! should apologise and give a clear explanation. This shouldn’t just pass calmly and be forgotten.”

James Zogby of Zogby Analytics, who is also a US public opinion pollster, said the incident was “an insult to history, reality, the thousands of oppressed Palestinians of Bethlehem”.

Zogby recently wrote: “Suffering under Israeli military occupation since 1967, Bethlehem has slowly been strangled. It has lost most of its land to settlement construction. It is hemmed in by a 30-foot-high concrete wall, stripped of its resources, and denied access to external markets.”

This is outrageous. If “Israel” had been the answer, it would have been bad enough. But the fact that she gave “Palestine” as the thought answer and was told it was wrong makes this an outrage & an insult to history, reality, the thousands of oppressed Palestinians of Bethlehem — James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) January 11, 2020

The United Nations (erroneously) says Israeli settlements in Bethlehem and other parts of the West Bank are illegal, and has called them a “flagrant violation” of international law.

Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of Council of American Islamic Relations Arizona chapter, said the incident highlights how pervasive the erasure of Palestinian history is.

“This just shows how normalised the occupation and cleansing of the Palestinian people from the historical record has become,” he told Al Jazeera.