Britain's advertising watchdog Wednesday banned an Israeli government tourism advert for suggesting that the Old City of Jerusalem was part of Israel.
The newspaper brochure showed a panorama of the walled Old City with the text "Israel has it all", and was ruled misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which said it implied the UNESCO World Heritage Site was part of Israel.
Following a complaint, the ASA ruled the title of the brochure "Israel Land of Creation" and references to Old City attractions was misleading and banned the ad from appearing again in its current form.
"We understood that the status of the territories in question was the subject of much international dispute," the watchdog said.
"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." In its defense, the Israeli Government Tourist Office denied the brochure was making a political statement.