Think Israel

Pinkwashing and the Israeli ads that wipe Palestine off the map

Two of the UK’s bestselling lifestyle magazines aimed at gay men have published the controversial Israeli advert that wipes Palestine and Syria off the map. Last Sunday I wrote about the “Think Israel” advertising campaign underway here in the UK. The Guardian received hundred of complaints after running a glossy advert that included a map in which the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories appear annexed to Israel. But it has now emerged that Attitude and Gay Times have both published the same advert (December and January issues respectively). Below are scans of all four pages of the ad as it appeared in Attitude, as a fold-out inside the front cover. 

UPDATED: Israeli campaign to attract UK tourists wipes Palestine and Syria off the map

Update: After “hundreds” of complaints, the Guardian has refused to publish subsequent ads from the Israeli tourism ministry. See full update below. An Israeli tourism map appearing in the Guardian last weekend rendered occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories as part of “Israel”. The map very much appears to be in breach of UK advertising regulations. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in 2009 upheld complaints against an Israeli tourism bilboard because it included a similar map, ruling the ad “must not appear again in its current form”. The three-page advertising spread from the Israeli tourism ministry in the Guardian Weekend is part of what increasingly looks like a major new advertising campaign in the UK.