Meretz cancels campaign ad that used Auschwitz gate to portray occupation
Party investigating whether outsourced Arabic social media clip was posted accidentally or was ‘sabotage’
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The left-wing Meretz party on Thursday hastily removed an election campaign clip in Arabic that included a drawing of the infamous gate of Auschwitz, saying it was posted without its authorization or consent.
The animation depicting the entrance to the Nazi death camp and adjacent fence was accompanied by Arabic text in which Meretz calls for an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“This was not done with our blessing, we are checking to see whether it was an innocent mistake or sabotage,” a party official said.
The clip, produced by an Arab advertising company that was retained by Meretz for the election campaign, aired briefly on social media but was taken down as soon as the offending content was discovered, a party official said.
“The moment we saw the clip, we removed it from all social media platforms and from Meretz’s website and we have suspended work with the agency,” the official said.
The agency said it had intended to portray the occupation and wanted to represent it by depicting a fence, but it did not fathom the connotation of portraying Auschwitz and the Holocaust, the official added.
“It is possible that the image was used maliciously by an employee at the agency,” the party official told Channel 12.
The Times of Israel Community.