The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has censured the Palestinian Diplomatic Mission to the UK for carrying a map on its website that described Israel as Palestine.
In effect, it wiped the state of Israel off the map. It showed all the land in the region - Israel, plus the occupied territories, such as the West Bank and Gaza - in the colours of the Palestinian flag.
Headlined "Discover Palestine", the interactive map was aimed at promoting tourism. Users could click on to various cities, such as Haifa, in order to obtain tourist information.
After receiving six complaints, ASA contacted the Palestinian mission, which has an office in Hammersmith, and the map was amended.
The mission explained that the map represented "Palestine in 1948" (before the creation of the state of Israel).
It said that the map was interactive and visitors to the website could click on it to access information about cities and tourist sites that were "internationally recognised".
But the ASA, having accepted that response, also investigated whether the marketing breached its code.
It considered that the average visitor to the site "would infer from the map and the linked information that the total area represented by the map was the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Because this was not the case we concluded that the website was misleading."
The ASA therefore ruled that the ad amounted to "misleading advertising" and upheld the central complaint.
There were also complaints that the map's information about the cities of Jaffa and Haifa was inaccurate in claiming that they were part of Palestine rather than Israel.
The ASA, drawing on the British foreign office designation of Jaffa and Haifa being in Israel, upheld those complaints.
Similarly, it upheld a complaint that its information on the status of Jerusalem - while "the subject of much international dispute" - was misleading.
On a further specific complaint about the town of Hebron - which is within the occupied territories of the West Bank - the ASA ruled that the mission had mislead consumers by failing to inform them of security arrangements and consequent travelling restrictions.
Lastly, in regard to the town of Bethlehem - also in the occupied territories - the ASA noted that the website made no reference the permits required to enter the town, and ruled that the site was misleading on this fact too.
At the time of writing, no reply had been received from an email sent yesterday to the mission, and no-one was available on the phone this morning.
Several of the complaints were made by members of the Zionist Federation. Its director, Alan Aziz, said: "We welcome this finding... It is vitally important that the British public receives accurate information about the Middle East."
An ASA spokesman explained that in March this year its remit was extended to cover marketing claims made by companies on their own websites.
Since the mission was promoting tourism, and therefore acted as a marketeer, it was covered by the code.
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