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While the European Union demonstrates unfair bias against Israel and is working to label products produced in Judea and Samaria, most Israelis across the political spectrum are furious over the decision, considering it a gift to terrorism and anti-Semitism.
In a phone interview with the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, European Union Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen said that products produced over the pre-1967 lines are not “made in Israel” and cannot be labeled that way.
“The EU position is that we do not recognize Israeli authority beyond the Green Line. It is not part of Israel. It is not part of what we understand to be Israel’s international recognized borders,” Faaborg-Andersen said. “For that reason we cannot agree that products that come from settlements beyond the Green Line are labeled ‘made in Israel.’”
Like other EU officials, he downplayed the significance of the labeling, which he said is merely a technical issue based on decisions made over a decade ago.
Already in 2003, the EU exempted settlement products from its free trade agreement with Israel, said Faaborg-Andersen.
‘Labeling Products is a Violent Act’
“I harshly oppose this harmful and superfluous move. It serves only one purpose, the continuation of hate and conflict in the area. Labeling products is a violent act of extremists who want to worsen the situation here even more, and the EU is falling in the trap that they have set,” Herzog said, following a meeting in which he discussed the matter with British Ambassador to Israel David Quarrey.
A Palestinian woman works at the Israeli SodaStream factory. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
Herzog, chairman of the Zionist Union party, said that such labeling would be a “prize that Europe is bestowing for terror.”
“This is a measure that serves only one purpose – continuing the hate and regional conflict. Marking these products is an act of violence by extremists who want to further inflame the situation and the EU is falling into their trap,” he asserted.
Labeling would also hurt Palestinian Arabs, he noted. “It will be a blow to tens of thousands of Palestinians employed in factories in Judea and Samaria under proper conditions who bring in an income for their families.”
Hotovely said that the EU, by considering such legislation, is “discriminating against the Jewish state.”
Europeans are ‘Singling Out Israel’
Speaking at the Barkan Industrial Park in Samaria, where Israelis and Palestinians work together under equally good employment conditions, Hotovely said the boycott delegitimizes the State of Israel. “When you boycott Judea and Samaria, you eventually boycott Tel Aviv,” she stated. “There are over 200 territorial disputes in the world, but the European Union is singling out Israel. This is discrimination. This is a boycott.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Labeling the products would cause Palestinian employees – not Israelis – to suffer the most, she said, adding that it prevents coexistence. “You’re not harming Israel’s economy when you do labeling. What you harm is over 10,000 Palestinian families who are going to lose their jobs.”
Hotovely also took the opportunity to censure the EU for its silence regarding the ongoing Palestinian terror against innocent Israelis, pointing out that the attacks occur not only over the Green Line, but in central Israel.
By: United with Israel Staff. With files from the Jerusalem Post.
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