European lawmakers: EU labeling policy is antisemitic

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

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Transcribed from the clipping

A delegation of parliamentarians from 10 European countries on Wednesday denounced the E.U. policy of exclusively labeling goods made in Israeli territory, calling it a violation of the universally recognized definition of antisemitism.

The hot-button declaration by the pro-Israel legislators relates to a 2015 E.U. directive which states that any goods made in areas that Israel won in the 1967 Six-Day War, including eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, cannot be labeled as “made in Israel.”

“Labeling products exclusively from the one and only Jewish state violates the internationally accepted IHRA definition of antisemitism,” read the lawmakers’ declaration.

The one-sentence declaration was signed at an event at the Czech Parliament in Prague attended by legislators from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The parliamentarians, members of their respective countries’ parliamentary European Israel Allies Caucuses, pledged to continue working within their own parliaments against the directive.

“The E.U. should withdraw the directive where goods from Jerusalem, Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria are requested to be separately labeled to highlight that the products come from those areas,” said chairman of the European Parliament Israel Allies Caucus Bert Jan Ruissen of the Netherlands. “This [directive] is discriminative and based on anti-Zionist assumptions,” he said.

The European Union’s position is that the lands in question are not part of the internationally recognized borders of Israel and as such, goods from there cannot carry the generic “Made in Israel” tag and should be labeled as coming from “settlements.” The E.U.’s top court, the European Court of Justice, subsequently endorsed the decision.

Israel counters that the policy is both discriminatory and employs a double standard, noting that the European Union has not taken similar measures with regard to hundreds of territorial conflicts elsewhere in the world.

“As a result of European frustration that there isn’t an immediate solution to the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, it holds Israel to blame and is punishing its citizens, through a discriminatory product labeling campaign,” Knesset member Sharren Haskel told the European lawmakers in a keynote address.

She said that the European Union was using a consumer protection directive to advance its foreign policy objectives. “The labeling of a product’s origin was created to protect consumers so they know where a product is from,” she said. “It was not intended as a tool to punish one side in a regional conflict.”

Ironically, the E.U. sanctions hurt Palestinians working at Israeli-owned factories in the areas, some of which have relocated. Moreover, in contrast to the European Union, the United States has recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

How this transcription was made

Date and publication rest on the collector's slide label; no masthead, folio or printed dateline appears on this clipping. Filed under the archive’s spelling; the page prints “The South Florida Sun Sentinel”.

Context added by this archive

The one sentence in the piece that mentions Palestinians as people rather than as a conflict is the word ‘Ironically’: ‘Ironically, the E.U. sanctions hurt Palestinians working at Israeli-owned factories in the areas, some of which have relocated.’

No Palestinian is quoted; no Palestinian worker is named; the EU’s own position is given in the reporter’s paraphrase while Israeli and pro-Israel figures speak directly.

The story also notes Haskel ‘traveled to Prague with a nanny for her infant twins after receiving special dispensation from the Knesset’s Ethics Committee to bring one in place of a parliamentary personal assistant.’

Cite this clipping

"European lawmakers: EU labeling policy is antisemitic," South Florida Sun Sentinel, 14 June 2023. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2023-104. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2023-104