Let's be clear about the anti-Israel organizations in Europe that support the BDS movement - by Itai Reuveni

We must ask, are assisting and funding boycott campaigns against Israel, harming Palestinian employment, discriminating on the basis of nationality and seeking to return the Golan Heights to terrorist groups in control of what was once Syria – also technical matters and part of the EU's consumer culture?

Itai Reuveni..
Israel Hayom..
17 November '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/paving-the-way-to-total-boycott/

The European Union's supreme court, which now requires all 28 member states to label Israeli products manufactured in Judea and Samaria, yet again bared its peculiar list of priorities in the areas of human rights and international law for all the world to see.

The Europeans and the organizations they fund have never labeled products from any of the world's other disputed areas, such as northern Cyprus, Western Sahara and dozens others, while EU member states even transfer money to and invest in these places. Every inquiry into other conflicts, unlike the Arab-Israeli conflict, has ended in the rejection of the idea to mark certain products.

This is because the European Court of Justice has direct links to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. This is more than a "classification" – all boycotts begin by singling out those designated to be ostracized. Proof of this can be found in the series of measures that have been implemented by EU-funded organizations, which have always argued that marking goods is merely the start of an evolving boycott campaign – with clear and intended ramifications for the Israeli economy inside the Green Line.

A study conducted by Israeli group NGO monitor points to a broad coalition of rights groups working to carry out an ideology of boycotting through product labeling. As early as 2012, for example, the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation asked for EU funding to "precisely mark settlement products as a first step," and suggested intensifying the sanctions until "the complete prohibition of settlement imports… and the prohibition of money transfers to settlements and related activities." The code-speak "related activities," incidentally, also includes Israeli and international business initiatives that have nothing to do with the settlements.

France's act of diplomatic arson against the Jewish state - by Michael Freund

...It is time to remind them of a very simple point: seven decades after the Holocaust, France and other European governments have no right to tell Jews where they can or cannot live. Especially in our ancestral homeland.

Michael Freund..
Pundicity/JPost..
01 December '16..
Link: http://www.michaelfreund.org/19419/france-labeling-jews

Last week, as Palestinian and Arab terrorists were busy setting fires all across Israel, France decided to join the fray by committing an act of diplomatic arson against the Jewish state.

In a move as hateful as it is hypocritical, French President Francois Hollande's government chose to become the first European Union state to begin to enforce guidelines which single out Jewish-owned businesses in the Golan, Judea and Samaria by requiring that their products bear special labels of origin.

French authorities published the guidelines in the official government gazette, and they require that items state, "product originating in the Golan Heights (Israeli settlement)," or "product originating in the West Bank (Israeli settlement)," a move they claim is intended merely to provide the consumer with more information.

That, of course, is complete hogwash.

To begin with, the requirement applies only to factories owned by Jews, whereas Palestinian Muslim-owned enterprises would not have their merchandise similarly labeled. In other words, at its root, the criteria being applied by France is the religious and ethnic identity of the manufacturer, and these conditions apply only to followers of Moses and not those of Muhammad.

Already looking for the votes, on the basis of hatred towards Israel? - by Yves Mamou

...In just one year, 2016, France and its socialist president have made multiple hostile gestures towards Israel, which reveal more about raw anti-Semitism posing as anti-Israelism in France than about its unjustly solitary target.

Yves Mamou..
Gatestone Institute..
29 November '16..

In France, retail chains and importers now have the legal obligation to label products originating in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

On November 24, the Official Gazette of the French Republic (JORF) published Regulation No 1169/2011, ordering "economic operators" to inform consumers about "the origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967."

This French regulation is an application of the interpretive notice issued by the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ), on November 12, 2015. The notice states that the EU "does not recognise Israel's sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and does not consider them to be part of Israel's territory" and claims it is responding to "a demand for clarity from consumers, economic operators and national authorities".

The European Commission allowed member states to arrange their own national implementation of this European regulation, with financial penalties.

The French adoption of this EU policy insists on labeling Israeli products with the greatest precision possible.

(Continue to Full Post)

Yves Mamou is a journalist and author based in France. He worked for two decades for the daily, Le Monde, before his retirement.

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How to fight the EU's labeling

...Happily, Israeli political parties inside and outside the government have united in their sharp criticism of labeling. Nevertheless, criticism alone has not been and will not be enough to stop labeling or further steps. However, the EU's inconsistent and discriminatory application of its rules gives Israel unique leverage to fight back. The labeling rules contradict not just the EU's treatment of other areas where they do not recognize a country's sovereignty; they contradict official EU statements of policy and European court rulings.

Prof. Eugene Kontorovich..
Israel Hayom..
24 November '15..

The European Commission's labeling is not about promoting "the two state solution" and it's not about "consumer protection." It is about a single-minded demonization of Israel.

The EU claims that "Made in Israel" labels mislead consumers about products' "country of origin." Yet the EU is not merely seeking a different geographical designation. Surprisingly, according to the EU rules, if "Made in Israel" is the problem, then "Made in the West Bank" or even "Made in Occupied Palestinian Territories" is not an acceptable answer.

Indeed, the EU notice specifically says that such alternative geographic indications cannot be used, though they entirely address the objection about geographic/territorial mislabeling. Instead, the EU notice also requires such products also be labeled "Israeli settlement" products. This is an extraordinary and unique step. "True origin" requirements for labeling are always and only about the country or territory goods comes from.

"Israeli settlement" labeling, however, is not about the geographic area. "Israeli settlement" is not a place on the map. The EU has replaced geographic indications -- labels about where something was made -- to something labels about who or how goods were made.

The rules leave room for creativity and challenge by Israel exporters. Nothing in the EU rule proscribes a "Judea and Samaria" label. Such a designation satisfies all the EU's objections: It does not say "Israel," and is a geographic place name. Of course, the EU does not like "Judea" and "Samaria," because that is what "settlers" call them. But then it is also the best way to accurately inform consumers that the products are from settlements.

The labeling is another step in a series of escalating European punitive measures. Europe has issued guidelines barring a single euro being spent on academic or other projects in Judea and Samaria or the Golan; barred the import of some agricultural products; issued vague warnings to businesses about having any connection with "settlements," and now, imposed labeling. That is just the past two years.

The EU is literally working down a list, one that ends in ruinous sanctions. Indeed, Europe uses Israel's failure to lodge formal legal protests to the act measure as a precedent for taking the next step.