UK watchdog bans Jerusalem travel advert

The UK advertising watchdog has banned an Israeli government tourism advert for “misleading consumers” by suggested that the Old City of Jerusalem was part of Israel.

The Advertising Standards Authority reject the advert which was published in a brochure called "Israel Land of Creation” and showed a panorama of the walled Old City with the text "Israel has it all".

Following a complaint the ASA said the advert in its current form implied the UNESCO World Heritage Site was part of Israel and that it was misleading for consumers.

The watchdog said: "We understood that the status of the territories in question was the subject of much international dispute.

"We therefore considered the presentation of the ad would mislead consumers into believing that the Old City of Jerusalem was part of Israel and into taking a transactional decision that they would otherwise not have taken."
The Israeli Government Tourist Office denied the brochure implied East Jerusalem and its Old City were part of the state of Israel.

It said: “The leaflet provided practical information that made clear that visitors to the places referred to in the ad, such as the Old City of Jerusalem, could only be visited via travelling to Israel.

“The ad did not seek to make a political statement and believed it would be inappropriate for it to do so.”