The far-left Meretz party faced a setback recently when a local billboard company in Ramat Gan refused to display its banner, Channel Two News reported Monday. 

As part of the second wave of its campaign to distinguish itself as “the real Left,” Meretz wanted to place its latest banner design outside the Ayalon Mall in the industrial area of Tel Aviv suburb Ramat Gan. 

The banner features Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu whispering with Labor-Hatnua Chairpersons Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni, indicating that Labor would join a unity government with Likud if push came to shove. 

However, the advertising space is technically within the border of haredi city Bnei Brak, adjacent to Ramat Gan, where displaying pictures of women is prohibited. 

When Meretz’s campaign manager met with the representative of the billboard company that owns the Ayalon Mall spot, he explained that the banner could not be displayed in the requested area, because it is within the municipal boundaries of Bnei Brak. 

“Change the banner, so it won’t have women in it,” the representative suggested to the campaign manager. 

When Meretz’s campaign manager rejected the proposal, the representative reiterated the difficulty of the situation. 

“I can’t display it there. I’m telling you in advance I can’t do it, because I have a bank guarantee of half a million shekels.” 

In response to a query from Channel Two, the company’s marketing director said: “This billboard belongs to the city of Bnei Brak. We have the license to the billboard but as such we must adhere to the regulations of the municipality.”