'UK watchdog bans Israeli tourism ad'

'The Guardian': 442 complaints received on "misleading" poster featuring Gaza, West Bank.

Israel Tourism poster 248 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Israel Tourism poster 248 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
An Israeli tourism poster has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a UK advertising watchdog, The Guardian reported on Wednesday. According to the article, the poster was banned after 442 public complaints were received due to a map (right), which includes the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights as part of Israel proper. The Guardian added that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Jews for Justice for Palestinians also complained about the tourism advertisement. The Tourism Ministry was quoted in the report as responding that the map was "a general schematic tourism and travel map, rather than a political map." Nonetheless, in its ruling on the matter, the ASA was quoted as saying, "We understood that the borders and status of the occupied territories of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights were the subject of much international dispute. "And because we considered that the ad implied that those territories were part of the state of Israel, we concluded that the ad was misleading," the ruling added. ASA decided that the poster be prohibited from appearing again in the same form.