Type the name of Israel's capital into OpenAI's new advertising tool, and the first place it offers is "Jerusalem, Palestine, State of." then Ohio, USA, then Arkansas, then a village in Bulgaria. Jerusalem in Israel never appears only if the advertiser already knows to type its Hebrew name in Latin letters: "Yerushalayim."

That is the finding of a benchmark carried out on September 29, 2026, by independent AI experts in OpenAI's Ads Manager, which is currently in beta. The experts have no connection to OpenAI. What follows describes only what the screen displayed that day: No AI marketing for Jerusalem inhabitants.

What the tool returns

Typing "Jerusalem" in the location field of a new campaign produces "Jerusalem, Palestine, State of," listed as a region. Two American postal codes follow, for towns called Jerusalem in Ohio and in Arkansas. No suggestion designates Jerusalem in Israel. The result is the same on a phone and on a computer. Typing only "jerusa" already puts the Palestine entry first. Adding the French accent, "jérusalem," changes nothing on the computer.

^{Screenshot 1. "jerusalem" is typed in the location field of a new campaign in OpenAI's Ads Manager. The first suggestion is "Jerusalem, Palestine, State of," listed as a region, followed by two US postal codes (Ohio and Arkansas). No suggestion designates Jerusalem in Israel.}

^{Screenshot 2. Only "jerusa" is typed. The Palestine entry is already the first suggestion, followed by postal codes in Bulgaria, Ohio and Arkansas.}

Adding "israel" does not help: "jerusalem israel" displays "No locations found." So does the city's name in Hebrew.

^{Screenshot 3. "jerusalem israel" is typed. The tool answers "No locations found."}

The only workaround the experts found is the transliteration "Yerushalayim," which returns "Yerushalayim, Israel," a region that can be selected. The same entry also appears in the list of regions under Israel.

^{Screenshot 4. The transliteration "yerushalayim" is typed. The tool offers "Yerushalayim, Israel," a region that can be selected. It is the only way the experts found to reach Jerusalem in Israel.}

Not a general problem with Israeli cities

Haifa and Tel Aviv come up in Israel under their common names. Typing "haif" offers "Haifa, Israel"; typing "tel aviv" offers "Tel-Aviv, Israel." Bethlehem, Ramallah, Hebron and Gaza also come up under their common names, followed by "Palestine, State of." Among these cities, the capital of the State of Israel is the one that is not found under its own name in Israel.

^{Screenshot 5. "haif" is typed. The tool offers "Haifa, Israel" as a region, with no detour through Palestine.}

^{Screenshot 6. "tel aviv" is typed. The tool offers "Tel-Aviv, Israel" as a region. Haifa and Tel Aviv are found under their common names; Jerusalem is not.}

The Arabic name does not fill the gap either. "Al Quds," "Al-Quds," "Quds," the Arabic spelling, "east jerusalem" and "jerusalem palestine" all display "No locations found." The common name leads to Palestine, and the other names lead nowhere.

Postal codes do not solve it

The experts also checked whether Jerusalem's postal codes work. The Israeli postal codes for Jerusalem that they tested, for example 9100000, return no location: "No locations found."

What this means for Israeli business in Jerusalem

This is not an abstract dispute over a name. Localized advertising exists so that a business can reach the people who live near it. The Israeli economic presence in Jerusalem includes not only the Knesset, the House of President, the Supreme Court but also neighbourhood shops, merchants, startups and the liberal professions. Jews have been present in Jerusalem continuously since the First Temple, and the economic life they carry on there is the main part of the city's daily reality.

Under the common name "Jerusalem," that activity cannot be targeted in this tool, because the name returns Palestine. An advertiser therefore has two options. It can know the Hebrew name in Latin letters, which many will not. Or it can select Israel as a whole. The tool states that a campaign is shown only in the selected locations, so the advertisement then runs far beyond the advertiser's own city. A clinic in Jerusalem faces a choice that a clinic in Haifa or Tel Aviv does not.

The result is that these businesses are deprived, in practice, of localized advertising under the name of their own city. No figure is offered here on the scale of that effect. The finding is specific: what the tool displayed on one day, in a beta version.

The effect can be seen on the screen, and it is a bias if not a ban in the plain sense of the word: the tool does not treat the names of Israeli cities in the same way. Two of them are found under their common names. The capital is found under Palestine.

What is asked

Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel and the seat of the Knesset, the Supreme Court and the presidency. It has carried its name since ever, and it is the city that the Jewish people has never ceased to remember. A marketing tool used by advertisers in order to convert clicks into sales, visits, contracts should not make that name lead to Palestine.

OpenAI should correct this: associate "Jerusalem" with Israel in the Ads Manager, and respond publicly. The tool is in beta, and beta versions exist to be corrected.

Until then, an Israeli shopkeeper, startup founder or doctor in Jerusalem who opens the tool and types the name of their own city will be sent to Palestine, then to Ohio and Arkansas to advertise their business. That is what the screen showed on September 29, 2026.