Authority upholds complaint against AJC

I posted some time ago about how the so-called American Jewish Committee was inciting war against Iran by way of full page ads in newspapers around the world. Well according to the Guardian the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint from the Iranian embassy against the advert. Here's the article:

The advertising watchdog has upheld a complaint from the Iranian embassy about a campaign by the American Jewish Committee that showed the projected range of possible missile attacks on neighbouring countries.

The US pressure group's campaign, which ran in the Financial Times, prompted 62 complaints from members of the public as well as the Iranian embassy.

The advert, which asked the question, "Can anyone within range of Iran's missiles feel safe?", featured a political map of Eurasia and Africa, centred on Iran, which was in the middle of two concentric circles that indicated the current and projected range of Iran's missile capability.

Below the map text stated: "Suppose Iran one day gives nuclear devices to terrorists. Could anyone anywhere feel safe?"

The complainants said the ad was "scaremongering" and appealed to people's fears of terrorist attacks; that it was "irresponsible" and likely to incite violence and hatred against Muslims and Iranians in particular; and was misleading because it implied that Iran would use nuclear weapons to launch attacks on any countries in the range of the circles.

The AJC did not respond to the Advertising Standards Authority's inquiries.

The FT said the ad was clearly labelled and represented the views of a well-known advocacy group, and pointed out that they had taken legal advice before publishing the ad.

The edition of the FT in which the ad appeared had a prominent article about Iran's nuclear programme.

And the newspaper pointed out that the text of the ad posed a question, not a statement of fact. It also defended the content as acceptable because of the "calibre" of the FT's readership.

The ASA dismissed all the complaints except those relating to the claims on the estimated and projected missile ranges.

The AJC, which is a New York-based pressure group whose aim is "combating anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry", was told not to repeat the claims.

In other words, the AJC was exaggerating about the existence, range and efficacy of Iranian weapons. Now where has that happened before?

Thanks to Lordb.