UK organizers of Israel real estate fair apologize after West Bank properties surface

JTA — Organizers of the Great Israeli Real Estate Event held Sunday in London have apologized in the wake of revelations that the event showcased offerings in the West Bank, contradicting their assurances that it would not.

The owner of a real estate agency that had a booth at the event, meanwhile, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she had obscured the name of a city in the West Bank from a poster but also passed “two flyers under the table” to attendees who expressed interest in properties in East Jerusalem.

Ahead of the event, the organizers, along with the synagogue that hosted the event and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, publicly rejected claims by pro-Palestinian activists that properties beyond Israel’s internationally recognized borders would be promoted.

They had faced sharp pressure over the claims from dozens of British lawmakers and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and had to find a new space after the venue that was initially set to host the event pulled out abruptly.

Following a protest outside the synagogue where the event took place, the Board of Deputies’ acting president, Adam Cohen, said the event organizers had “publicly refuted claims that it was marketing real estate over the Green Line” separating Israel from the West Bank, and alleged that the claims were being used to justify antisemitism.

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The “false pretenses seem to be little more than an excuse to harass and intimidate members of the Jewish community,” he said.

The Board of Deputies declined to comment on the subsequent revelations that West Bank properties were advertised at the event.

But the organizers, who have staged similar events in the United States, issued a statement to the UK’s Jewish News that, in the same breath, both apologized for mentions of East Jerusalem neighborhoods in a brochure distributed at the event, and rejected the idea that British Jews should face constraints in where they are offered property.

“We would like to re-emphasize that the venue made it clear to us that we were not in any way to promote the sale of Israeli real estate over the Green Line, and all participating vendors agreed to abide by that requirement,” the statement said. “At the same time, we believe it is outrageous that in this day and age, anyone would seek to deny British Jews the right to purchase property anywhere in the world, whether in Paris, New York or Israel.”

The statement also pushed back against social media claims that “stolen Palestinian land” was sold at the event.

“These allegations are simply untrue. No one at the event promoted or spoke about properties in the ‘disputed territories,’ such as Givat Ze’ev or Kfar Eldad,” two West Bank settlements, the statement continued. “Their mention in the event brochure was made in error for which we apologize.”

The revelations came after attendees photographed flyers promoting West Bank settlements and posted them on social media.

The Guardian reported that it obtained brochures from the event advertising properties not just in Givat Ze’ev and Kfar Eldad, but also in Ma’ale Adumim and Teneh Omarim in the West Bank, as well as Ramat Eshkol and Givat Hamatos — two Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

Guy Zilberman, a member of the anti-Israel group Jewish Anti-Zionist Action, posted a video showing footage from inside the event where he received brochures from companies selling homes in several of those locations. He said a salesman “directly offered us properties in ‘Judea and Samaria,’” the biblical term for the West Bank.

The footage showed Zilberman then revealing himself in a conference room and denouncing the event while exhorting attendees in Hebrew not to steal, before being removed by security.

REVEALED: Jewish activists @JAZA_UK have shown us material from inside an Israeli property event in London yesterday, which shows that illegal settlements on Palestinian land were on sale in the UK.

Activists gained access to the event, spoke to numerous developers about the… pic.twitter.com/WsJ1hC1GlZ

— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) June 16, 2026

An unnamed member of Jewish Anti-Zionist Action told Sky News: “I visited Tivuch Shelly’s stall and was given a leaflet advertising properties in Ma’ale Adumim, which is an illegal West Bank settlement.”

Ma’ale Adumim is a legal settlement-city under Israeli law, but it and all other Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by much of the international community.

Tivuch Shelly’s owner and founder, Shelly Levine, told JTA in a phone interview that the agency never actively promoted West Bank properties at the event, and even had the words “Ma’ale Adumim” covered up with tape on its booth.

But she said they gave out “two flyers under the table” with Ma’ale Adumim properties because the company had received emails in advance of the event from people who said they were specifically looking for properties in that area.

Levine said she now believes those emails were “a setup” to trick her into sharing incriminating material that could be handed to the media.

She said she did not recall the names of the people but said she had handed over the brochures “in a bag and we told them they were not allowed to take them out or look at them in this building because we are not selling Ma’ale Adumim at this event.”

Unless people went to Tivuch Shelly’s website, Levine said, “nobody would know that we advertise in Ma’ale Adumim. We did not break our word to the event organizers; we posted no brochures, put nothing out on our tables.”

The locations cited highlight the complexity of Israel’s geography — and the pressures facing those trying to sell property in the region.

The UK considers expansions of Israeli settlements as a violation of international law, posing potential legal challenges to efforts to sell homes there. The US does not consider the settlements illegal, making real estate events there less vulnerable to legal scrutiny even as they have drawn fierce protests.

Neighborhoods that are part of the municipality of Jerusalem, such as Ramat Eshkol and Givat Hamatos, pose another wrinkle.

While Israel recognizes that the West Bank is disputed territory and hasn’t formally extended its sovereignty there, it does not consider any part of Jerusalem in dispute. East Jerusalem was annexed and incorporated into the state in 1980, and under Israeli law, both West and East Jerusalem form the state’s complete and undivided capital.

Ma’ale Adumim, meanwhile, is a city of approximately 40,000 that is located in the West Bank, just east of Jerusalem. Despite its status as a settlement, the city has been designated to remain under Israeli control during past negotiations toward a two-state solution.

Even before the revelations, the lead-up to the event had been fraught for weeks, with the original venue pulling out of hosting less than 48 hours before Edgware Synagogue agreed to host it. And while the venue remained secret until less than 24 hours before the event, almost 1,000 demonstrators showed up outside the synagogue — from both the anti- and pro-Israel camps.

Despite police being deployed to the scene to keep the groups separate, 14 people were arrested from both sides for offenses including violent disorder, assault and public order offenses.

More than 100 members of parliament and peers wrote to British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper ahead of the event calling on her to halt it, arguing that selling properties in the West Bank is a violation of international law.

On Tuesday, Cooper told members of Parliament that the government had asked a national regulator to look into complaints connected to both the advertising of the event and promotional material.

“We have asked the authority to urgently look into the matter and reassure us that, if there is any evidence of the advertising or promotion of property in illegal settlements at that event or any others, it will uphold the law, regulations and guidance that apply,” Cooper said in response to a question from a local lawmaker about why the government had allowed the Great Israeli Real Estate Event to go on.

“It is extremely important that those standards are met in the UK, and that is exactly why we have raised the matter so seriously with the Advertising Standards Authority,” she continued.

That was not enough for Zack Polanski, the anti-Zionist Jewish leader of the Green Party, who sent a letter later on Tuesday to Khan demanding action, including from London’s police force.

“This needs to be escalated to the Metropolitan Police Service immediately,” Polanski wrote. “Anything less fails to reflect the seriousness of the situation.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.