When Sporcle’s first country quizzes were made, Palestine was not included on them. As such, when it came to Israel’s capital, we simply listed Jerusalem. These quizzes were made merely for entertainment and learning, and were not intended to make any sort of political statement.
For many of us growing up in the United States, we were taught that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel. Since Israel considers Jerusalem to be their capital, and Jerusalem is home to the majority of Israel’s governmental buildings, it seemed like the right call to list Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on our country quizzes.
Our decision to include Palestine as a country after the UN granted them non-member observer state status in 2012 caused a bit of an uproar around the site, and complicated this capital issue a bit.
Ramallah was ultimately chosen as capital of Palestine on our quizzes because it is the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority. But we also wanted to recognize Palestinian claims of East Jerusalem. As such, we also consider “East Jerusalem” to be an acceptable answer for the capital of Palestine. This has not pleased everyone in the Sporcle community, and while nothing is set in stone, it is the standard that we have decided to stick to for now.