The real message from EU move to label

Israeli settlement goods

Palestinians wave a flag during a protest against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank village
of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, on 28 August.
Shadi HatemAPA images

Ali Abunimah-12 November 2015

After years of dithering and delay, the European Union on Wednesday finally took the minimal
step of requiring labels clearly marking goods that come from Israeli settlements built on
occupied Palestinian and Syrian land in violation of international law.
Palestinians welcomed the move, but are decidedly underwhelmed. Nonetheless the European
step holds some important messages.
Mahmoud Nawajaa, general coordinator for the Palestinian BDS National Committee, the
broad coalition that backs the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, said it was a sign
that European governments are reacting to public opinion, civil society campaigning and Israeli

intransigence and are becoming more willing to take some basic action against Israeli
violations of international law.
But, Nawajaa added, putting some labels on a small number of Israeli products is hardly a
proportionate response to repeated Israeli war crimes.

Not Made in Israel

Under the new regulation, labeling of goods imported into the EU must be correct and not
misleading.
Products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and
Syrias Israeli-occupied Golan Heights can no longer be marked Made in Israel.
The EU requires that the words Israeli settlement be added to the labels that consumers will
see in stores.
It is unclear how the regulation will be enforced: Israeli exporters routinely deceive customs
officials and retail chains about the origin of their goods.
The regulation also says that products from Palestine that do not originate from settlements
can be marked product from Palestine or product from West Bank (Palestinian product).
The EU considers Palestine to be limited, at most, to the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip
just 22 percent of historic Palestine.

Article1Collective @Article1C
"#EU approves labeling of Israel settlement products" Will they be using our label?
hbit.ly/1MKnwpD
t7:47 AM - 11 Nov 2015
t
p
EU hypocrisy
:
/The EU move smacks of hypocrisy.
/

While taking a minor step, EU governments still refuse to end their arms trade and other
material support for Israeli crimes, as hundreds of European trade unions and other
organizations have demanded.
EU countries sent weapons and military exports to Israel worth $1 billion in 2012-13.
Greece, Italy and Germany continue to carry out joint training with the Israeli army, despite
its well-documented war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.
My colleague David Cronin has meticulously documented the myriad ways the EU funds and
actively supports Israels war machine.
It is also notable that France has been particularly keen on the labeling of settlement goods. But
what, ultimately is its purpose if not to allow consumers to make the choice to boycott these
goods?
Yet, France continues to hypocritically prosecute and fine its own citizens for the crime of
calling for just such boycotts.
As long as such complicity continues, the EU labeling move as much as it might anger Israel
is a fig leaf for European policies that continue to help Israel kill Palestinians and steal their
land.

Nazi comparisons
Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Emanuel Nahshon said the new labeling policy was
discriminatory and smacks of boycott.
In a sign of their anger, Israeli officials canceled meetings with EU counterparts.
As The New York Times reported, Israeli politicians condemned the move as an echo of the
Holocaust-era branding of European Jews and their storefronts with yellow stars.
Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to Washington who is now a lawmaker in the
government coalition, posted a photo on Facebook of a storefront in Nazi Germany daubed
with a Star of David and the word Jew, and a sign telling Germans not to frequent Jewishowned businesses.
Some Israel supporters posted images on social media of the EU flag emblazoned with a Nazi
swastika.
The pro-Israel publication The New York Times hammered the point home in its own social
media messaging:

The New York Times

@nytimes
EU to label Israeli goods made in settlements, a move some equate to Nazi's yellow star
hnyti.ms/1HyKMLd
t10:53 AM - 11 Nov 2015
t
p
Might as well show courage
:
/These unhinged reactions holds two key messages. First, by comparing EU labeling to
/

Nazism, Israels backers demonstrate that no tactic is too depraved or indecent.

Using the Nazi genocide to deflect criticism from Israels racist, illegal theft of land
from Palestinians cheapens the lives of the millions of Jews murdered by Europeans.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself recently showed that such
disgusting propaganda was fair game when he fabricated the story that Hitler got the
idea for the Holocaust from a Palestinian.
The second lesson is one that chronically gutless European leaders should heed.
Once Israeli leaders have labeled you a Nazi, theres really nothing worse they can say.
So if EU leaders are likened to Hitler for a move as minimal as mere labeling of
settlement goods, then why not do something more courageous and effective?
The price is the same, so you might as well support all Palestinian rights and all
legitimate means to achieve them.
But sadly, EU leaders are unlikely to absorb this. Instead, theyve been trying to
assuage Israels rage by professing a deep desire for even more cooperation and
complicity with it, and downplaying the significance of the labeling move.

The most important message is this: EU leaders will continue to coddle Israels brutal
regime of occupation, apartheid and settler-colonialism unless European citizens
maintain and escalate their valiant solidarity campaigns with the Palestinian people.
Posted by Thavam