The city of Kiryat Yam a coastal town in Northern Israel has decided to sue Google. This resort town which relies heavily on tourism is outraged that Google Earth has placed Arab Ghawarina in the middle of the town and claimed it was an Arab village before the Jews ever got there. Kiryat Yam will claim in its suit that this is a complete fabrication and distortion of the truth. It will further claim that these fabrications are having a negative effect on tourism and investments that would bolster the economy of the city.  Kiryat Yam claims that the area where the city resides on was a complete wasteland before being cultivated and settled by immigrant Jews well before the establishment of the state of Israel.

Both the local Google in Israel and world Google have been asked for some explanation as to the veracity of these statements. No apparent response has been heard from Google just yet. There have also been some comments on Google Earth community on the geographical location of Arab Ghawarina and some confusion. These comments claim Qiryat Motzkin another Israeli town was exactly where Google claims Arab Ghawarina is situated. Kiryat Motzkin is actually a bit to the east of Kiryat Yam.  This comment also claims that there is another name for Arab Ghawarina ‘ Jisr Zerqa ‘.

In any case Israeli law states that a website can be liable if  someone can prove that deliberate false statements have been put into the site and this leads to direct monetary loss. Google has been sued for misrepresentation on Google earth before and as yet has not as yet incurred any fines or forced settlements.