Irish Minister Pushing EU To Use Anti-Israel Labeling

Irish Foreign Minister Gilmore is pushing for the European Union to use labels which discriminate against products from Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

According to Irish4Israel, “We here in Ireland have had a tip off that the Irish Foreign Minister (Eamon Gilmore) will push ahead with plans to label Israeli settlement produce. This will take place at the EU Foreign Affairs meeting. Ireland is currently President of the EU.” Even if the EU rejects the proposal, Irish Foreign Minister Gilmore has claimed that he will push ahead with labeling produce from Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

In the past, Minister Gilmore has emphasized that he views products coming from Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to be illegal, despite the fact that the Jewish people have been historically connected to Judea and Samaria dating back to antiquity and it is legal for them to reside there according to international law.

Last February, the European Union formally recommended that EU members protest Israelis living in Judea and Samaria by boycotting Jewish communities who chose to live over the green line. This followed an internal EU report stating that the existence of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria is the number one obstacle to a peace agreement. The Palestinian refusal to negotiate, as well as Palestinian terror and PA incitement, was not even mentioned as problematic in that report.

ANTI-ISRAEL LABELING PROPOSAL BAD FOR PALESTINIANS & JEWS

In Israel, many exporters have noted that much of the products produced within Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria were actually made by Palestinian Arabs, who were given decent jobs that they otherwise would not have had. At Soda Stream, for example, Palestinians workers claim that jobs with living wages in Judea and Samaria outside of the Jewish communities there merely don’t exist. The company claims that by providing Palestinians with decent opportunities, they are actually promoting peace. If these companies are closed due to the BDS Movement, the first people who will suffer are these companies Palestinian employees.

TAKE ACTION

Irish4Israel has called upon the pro-Israel community to be pro-active on this issue and not reactive, urging a mass email campaign to Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore and Irish embassies in the UK, US, Australia and Canada. He claimed, “The Irish government is sensitive to criticism from abroad.” For this reason, it is critical for United with Israel supporters to write into the Irish Foreign Minister about this issue.

PLEASE EMAIL THE IRISH FOREIGN MINISTER!

Email: eamon.gilmore@oir.ie

Dear Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore,

As a concerned citizen, I am writing you to express my distress that you want to propose that the European Union will start to label products produced in Jewish communities within Judea and Samaria as such. I am deeply worried that such a policy will inflict unwarranted socio-economic damage on both the Jewish and Palestinian communities and will result in putting certain companies out of business that are providing Palestinian Arabs with valuable jobs. Such labeling will harm these Palestinians whom you are seeking to help first and foremost, because many of these companies will merely relocate to Israel proper for damage control, leaving these Palestinians without a means to support their families.

I urge you to reconsider your position and not encourage the European Union to label products produced by Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as such.

Sincerely,

Your Name