LONDON - Britains Advertising Standards Authority has ordered the Israeli government not to repeat several advertisements for books promoting Israel. In one ad, published in November, a map showed a dotted line around the Golan Heights, labeled Golan. Parts of the West Bank were labeled Samaria and Judea. The ad also claimed that skeletons found in the Galilee proved that human speech developed there. The authority said it received 350 complaints, including from supporters of Palestinians. On Wednesday, the authority ruled that the ad must not reappear in that form, should not imply that Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights were internationally recognized as part of the state of Israel, and should not imply universal acceptance of contentious claims. Meanwhile, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Thursday attacked the ASA for its rebuke of a different publication which promotes holy sites in east Jerusalem, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The ASA claimed that the ad, which also features the Western Wall, was misleading as the sites mentioned are not recognized as Israeli territory, Haaretz reported. The heart and soul of the Jewish people and the state of Israel are in those sites, Barkat was quoted as saying, adding that the decision by the ASA shows a complete ignorance of history.
