She said a Bethlehem church was in Palestine. But ‘Jeopardy!’ accepted Israel as the right answer.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/13/jeopardy-bethlehem-church/

 The Church of the Nativity, which many believe is the birthplace of Jesus, sits by a white-stoned square in the heart of Bethlehem near the controversial concrete barrier that encircles the West Bank. UNESCO, which has selected the church as a World Heritage Site, lists it as one of three such locations in Palestine.

So for many of those who slammed “Jeopardy!” over the weekend, the trivia answer was, well, more than trivial. It was a commentary, implicit or not, on a hotly contested and deeply emotional question in Middle East geopolitics.

The Oslo accords of 1995 give the Palestinian Authority control over Bethlehem and the West Bank, though that is complicated by Israeli settlements and military checkpoints. Under a historic “Status Quo” agreement, the church and other holy sites near it area must be jointly shared and protected by various Christian denominations.