The following is from the BBC: A UK watchdog has banned an Israeli tourism advert showing the Western Wall, saying it is ‘misleading’.
The Advertising Standards Authority said the advert implied East Jerusalem, which has been occupied since 1967, was part of the state of Israel.
The Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, is in East Jerusalem, but it is a major tourist site for most visitors to Israel.
Israel’s tourism ministry said it would have been misleading to exclude it.
The ASA said they received one letter of complaint about the advert, which appeared in UK newspapers.
The ruling follows another case in 2009 where the ASA criticised Israeli tourist authorities for running an advert on the London Underground which appeared to show Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights as part of Israel.
By a picture of surfers in Tel Aviv, the latest advert said: “You can travel the length of Israel in six hours, imagine what you can do in four days.”
At the bottom of the advert was a small picture of the Western Wall, part of the complex known to Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as Haram al-Sharif.
The Dome of the Rock can be seen in the background of the picture, which is titled “Day two, Jerusalem”.
The ASA ruling said: “Readers were likely to understand that the places featured in the itinerary were all within the state of Israel.”
“We understood, however, that the status of the occupied territory of the West Bank was the subject of much international dispute, and because we considered that the ad implied that the part of East Jerusalem featured in the image was part of the state of Israel, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.”
But the Israel’s Ministry of Tourism has refused to accept the ruling.
A statement in response said the ad provides “basic, accurate information to a prospective UK visitor”.
“It is entirely accurate to assert that a visitor to Israel could visit Jerusalem as part of a short visit. Had the ad omitted a reference to a visit to the city of Jerusalem, it would have been incorrect and potentially misleading.”
The advert in 2009 received more than 400 complaints.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem for their future capital, but Israel insists the city cannot be divided.
The status of the two holy sites is one of the most controversial issues that will have be solved in any eventual peace deal.
They are located in the Old City, at the heart of Jerusalem, which was under Jordanian rule from 1948 until the 1967 Israeli-Arab war, when Israel occupied the eastern side of Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights.
(Source: BBC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
3 Responses
How’s that cloud of ash “occupying” you guys? Heed my advice and take a hint before the cloud turns to something much worse.
Okay. Rerun the ad text like this…
Jews – now you can visit the Kotel (Western Wall). Christians – now you can visit the Temple Mount with an Israeli visa stamped on our passport. After Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, when six Arab armies invaded Israel on five fronts, the Jordanians did not allow any Jews or Christians with Israeli visas stamped on their passports to visit the Jews’ most holy site. In fact, they would not allow such non-Muslims to visit Kever Rochel (the Tomb of Rachel) in Bethlehem or Maaras Hamachpeilah (the Tomb of the Patriarchs) in Hebron either. Jerusalem was to be an internationalized city under the original Partition Plan and people of all faiths were to be guaranteed free access. The Jordanians did not honor this arrangement. London has an East End, Manhattan has an East Side, Paris has a neighborhood called Montmartre, and Jerusalem has an East end also, it’s called the Old City. Excuse me, but did the Brits object to Jordanian travel ads 1948-1967 which mentioned Haram El Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) which is our Temple Mount?
According to their reasoning, any ads for tourism to Britain should NOT include Northern Ireland or Scotland since they are also “occupied.”