Asserting that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish state amounts to "dissemination of incorrect information," an Italian court ruled Monday.
According to Middle East Monitor, the ruling followed a lawsuit filed against popular Italian TV game show L'Eradita.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
In an episode that aired in May, L'Eradita's host Flavio Insinna asked one of the show's participants to name Israel's capital – but did not accept "Tel Aviv" as an answer, saying the correct response was "Jerusalem."
This drew the ire of the Palestinian Association in Italy and the Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and both sued RAI, the network that airs the show.
In early June, Insinna said that there were different viewpoints on the matter and apologized for raising the issue as part of the show.
On Aug. 5, however, Court of Rome Judge Cecilia Pratesi ruled that this was not enough, and Italy's official policy was to not recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
Outlining the rationale for the decision, the judge pointed at Italy's vote for a UN General Assembly resolution that slammed the US for recognizing the city as the official seat of the Israeli government.
"The Italian State does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital," she wrote in her ruling. "It is well known that on Dec. 21, 2017, Italy voted in favor of a UN General Assembly Resolution rejecting the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
"It is also well known that the UN itself repeatedly issued its opinion, condemning the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem, and denying any legal validity to Israel's decision to turn Jerusalem into its capital," she added.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
"UN Resolutions," the verdict continued, "have to be considered as conventional law, directly applicable in our legal system."
According to Italian daily La Repubblica, the next time Insinna goes on the air he will have to deliver a statement saying, "International law does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel."
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
