UK Bans Western Wall from Israel Tourism Ads

[Violet_Crumble]

The Advertising Standards Authority rules that an Israeli ad breaches rules on truthfulness.

From Palestinian denials of Judaism's historical ties to the Old City and the Temple Mount to the most recent spat surrounding the status of Jerusalem and Israeli building in Jewish neighborhoods, campaigns to disconnect Israel and the Jewish people from Jerusalem and Judaism's holiest sites are nothing new.

However, a ruling by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority has taken things to new heights of absurdity. The ASA dealt with a complaint concerning an Israel Government Tourist Office advert that "the photograph featured for Jerusalem was of East Jerusalem" and therefore "the ad misleadingly implied that East Jerusalem was part of the state of Israel."

The Israeli Tourism Ministry responded, saying that:

the ad provided basic, accurate information to a prospective UK traveller who wanted to know what to expect in Israel. They maintained that it was entirely accurate to assert that a visitor to Israel could visit Jerusalem as part of a short visit. Furthermore, they believed that, had the ad omitted a reference to a visit to the city of Jerusalem, it would have been incorrect and potentially misleading.

The Ministry also reminded the ASA of Israeli commitments to supporting religious sites of all denominations and that Israeli jurisdiction over those sites and tourism there was agreed upon with the Palestinian Authority in 1995. According to the ASA, the Ministry also:

maintained that the present legal status of Jerusalem had nothing to do with the point at issue. They said it was only of relevance if there was an attempt to interpret the straightforward message of the ad in a manner that went beyond what consumers were likely to understand from the ad.

Nonetheless, the ASA upheld the complaint, judging that the ad had breached rules on truthfulness. Referring to the image of Jerusalem's Western Wall and Temple Mount, the ASA:

considered that 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.

Despite the fact that the final status of Jerusalem has yet to be determined through any negotiations between the involved parties, the ASA has, without the aid of international lawyers or politicians, come to its own decision - Israel is "not to imply that places in the Occupied Territories were part of the State of Israel."

The bottom line - Israel can no longer feature Jerusalem's Old City, including the Western Wall, as part of its tourist advertising campaigns in the UK.

Since when was it legitimate for the ASA to rule on the historic connection of Israel to its capital city and holy sites?

http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/UK_Bans_Western_Wall_from_Israel_Tourism_Ads.asp

[Violet_Crumble]

1. kick n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. And effective the next day, all flights into and out of the UK are grounded

and remain so.

Karma is a bitch.

[Fumesucker]

3. Rush, is that you?

That is a remarkably idiotic argument when Limbaugh uses it against health insurance reform, using it against the UK's advertising ban is no better.

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. Oh please.

US weak health insurance "reform" has no ties to UK weather.

Karma says UK ban on foreign travel literature : UK ban on their own travel has possibilities.

Karma told me so herself. ;)

[Fumesucker]

5. There is no ban on foreign travel literature..

Only against a certain very small subset of images.

And anyway, my Karma just ran over your Dogma. :)

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. LOL!

Credit where credit is due. :toast:

[azurnoir]

8. so your saying that the Icelandic volcano

that grounded most European air travel is somehow "karma" for the UK's actions in removing the Western Wall from a travel poster? wow

[Violet_Crumble]

7. Kick

Interesting to see that while Electronic Intifada is now barred as a source for new threads, partisan pro-Israel sites like Honest Reporting are still allowed....

[ConsAreLiars]

9. I've noticed that as well.

The standard used does not seem to involve partisanship, taking one side, the oppressor or the oppressed, the powerful or the less powerful, but being partisans on the "other" side. Seems to have gotten even worse since the even more biased understudy got promoted.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. I alerted on the OPs from CAMERA, EI, Arutz Sheva & Honest Reporting this morning...

And only the one from EI was locked. I've always given the mods the benefit of the doubt and defended them against accusations of bias, but I really don't know how this EI banning as a source while partisan pro-Israel ones aren't can't be seen as anything but a clear double standard...

[ConsAreLiars]

11. Those who hold power (here or anywhere), use it to serve their interests. No surprise,

Those of us who are unfavored do what we can within the constraints they impose. Eventually those who operate this small and unimportant chattering site will ban anything and anyone who suggests that Palestinians have a right to live in their own land.