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Israel Riled at European Union Plans to Label West Bank Products

Advocacy groups seek to counter the momentum

[Jerusalem] – Indications that the European Union will soon adopt a recommendation to label Israeli products originating in the West Bank has spurred pro-Israel groups into action. One advocacy group fighting the EU’s intended initiative, The Israel Allies Foundation (IAF), hosted a gathering of parliamentarians from Europe, South America and Africa at the City of David archaeological site this week in an effort to fight the decision to label West Bank goods and to bolster opposition the anti-Israel Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which it believes is behind the EU proposal.

Some politicians and activists have gone as far as condemning the EU act, suggesting a comparison to anti-Semitic acts from the World War II era.

“There are three elements to calls for boycott. First of all, university campuses; secondly companies and thirdly countries,” Mark Pritchard, a British Member of Parliament with the Conservative Party, told The Media Line.  “With all three I would argue that…  (they) need to recognize that Israel is a free and open democratic country in the Middle East, the only one in the (region),” Pritchard said. Like all of the visiting politicians attending the IAF event, Pritchard was firmly behind calls for BDS to be opposed.

The BDS movement is a series of linked campaigns aimed at encouraging individuals and organizations around the world to boycott any association with Israel; to divest from companies that do business with Israel; and press for international sanctions to be applied against the Jewish state. While the movement’s stated aim is to end Israeli control over the West Bank, supporters of Israel suggest more nefarious intent. Advocates of BDS compare it to the boycott of the South African government which has been credited with ending apartheid rule in that country.

Proponents of BDS have lobbied for the EU to change its policies towards Israel and to demonstrate opposition by its member states to Jewish communities being built over the Green Line — on land captured by Israel in 1967. Within a matter of weeks the EU may adopt a recommendation to its member states that goods produced in the West Bank imported into Europe be marked accordingly, a move reportedly advocated by the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Pritchard explained that his motives for supporting Israel were linked to his belief in human rights. “There should be equality, equity, fairness, and social justice for everyone – including the Jewish people and the state of Israel,” Pritchard said.

Other visiting politicians stated different reasons for their opposition to BDS. A number of those visiting the City of David were from center-right and Christian political parties.

The EU should not become involved in BDS as it has not taken sides in other political stand offs and would therefore be singling out Israel, Peter Östman, a Finnish MP and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Parliamentary group, told The Media Line.

Racism is the motivation behind the EU’s planned treatment, Josh Reinstein, the director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, told The Media Line. “The campaign of BDS is classical anti-Semitism, it’s the same tricks and storyline that they’ve done for hundreds of years. Its blood libel… just with a twist because they say ‘Israel’ instead of ‘Jew’ now,” Reinstein said. The threat posed to Israel by such a boycott was significant, the director suggested, explaining that BDS had the potential to grow in both scale and impact.

“There seems to be unanimous agreement in Europe and in the European Parliament that the BDS movement is doing a lot of damage to the cause of peace,” Andras Patkai, the European Director of the host Israel Allies Foundation, told The Media Line. The effects of a boycott on Israeli goods would have a negative impact due to the imprecise nature of sanctions, Patkai suggested. “Often the very people whose rights seem to be neglected… the Arab people living in the territories (would be affected),” he concluded.

“It has the potential to do a lot of damage but I think the damage is mostly not to Israel but to the credibility of the European Commission,” Mark Pritchard said, explaining that a peace deal would not be bolstered by a boycott of Israeli goods.

Responding to criticism of the BDS movement, Sarah Colborne, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), argued that in effect the international community is allowing Israel to continue its actions in the West bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip with impunity. This, she argues, despite a United Nations resolution calling for an end to such practices and an accepted international norm that the Geneva Convention forbids collective punishment, as demonstrated by the siege of Gaza.

“(PSC) has long campaigned for the labelling of products from the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank… The UN says the settlements have no legal validity and the EU judges them to be the single biggest obstacle to peace,” Colborne asserted. She suggests that any boycott of Israeli goods is a peaceful form of resistance and emulates sanctions placed against the South African government during apartheid, “its aim is to bring about… freedom, equal rights and justice for Palestinians and Israelis.”

The EU is expected to make a decision on the labelling of products in the coming weeks. If the proposal is accepted it will merely be a recommendation and will not be binding on the EU’s 28 member states.