Kiryat Gat Mayor Apologizes for Signs Excluding Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria from Map
30 September, 2020 |
4 years ago
Jerusalem, 30 September, 2020 (TPS) -- Kiryat Gat Mayor Aviram Dahari issued an apology and vowed to remove dozens of signs posted across the city on Tuesday depicting a map of Israel excluding Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights.
The signs, showing a map of Israel with the pre-1967 borders alongside the text “Kiryat Gat – Israel’s New Center!” were posted by the municipality as part of a citywide PR campaign.
The signs were first noticed by the pro-Israel watchdog organization, Im Tirtzu, which launched an email petition encouraging its more than 230,000 Facebook followers to demand that the city fix the signs.
Several hours later, Kiryat Gat Mayor Aviram Dahari issued an apology on the municipality’s official Facebook page.
“Dear Im Tirtzu, I would like to thank you for drawing our attention to the issue of the map of the Land of Israel that appeared on signs throughout the city,” wrote Dahari.
“The Land of Israel, the land of our forefathers that our ancestors dreamed of, includes all the parts that you mentioned in your letter. With God’s help, we will fix the signs accordingly.”
Despite the apology, commenters on social media demanded further action.
“That’s it? Just like that? Who is responsible for the advertisement? What’s his excuse? Did you look into it?” wrote a resident of the city.
“Such a disgrace. I hope someone gets sent home for making such a ‘mistake,'” wrote another resident.
Matan Peleg, chairman of the Im Tirzu movement, stated before the apology was issued that “removing the heart of the country from the map of Israel, both physically and in a deep value sense, is an unparalleled shame. Intentional violation of the right of the state to exist in this country is a serious, unacceptable anti-Zionist act.”
“No mayor in the State of Israel has the right to erase from the map of Israel the cradle of its culture and also to draw a map that ignores half a million Israeli citizens living in those areas. This is a disgraceful and degrading step. shame,” he added.
