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<h1 class="page__title title balance-text" id="page-title">The real
message from EU move to label Israeli settlement goods</h1>
<header class="node__header">
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel"
datatype="">Ali Abunimah</a></span> <br>
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/real-message-eu-move-label-israeli-settlement-goods">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/real-message-eu-move-label-israeli-settlement-goods</a></small></small></small></b><br>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2015-11-12T15:29:44+00:00">12
November 2015</span></span> </p>
</header>
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<p>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.</p>
<p>Palestinians welcomed the move, but are decidedly underwhelmed.
Nonetheless the European step holds some important messages.</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/mahmoud-nawajaa">Mahmoud
Nawajaa</a>, general coordinator for the Palestinian <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/bnc">BDS National
Committee</a>, 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.”</p>
<p>But, Nawajaa added, “putting some labels on a small number of
Israeli products is hardly a proportionate response to repeated
Israeli war crimes.”</p>
<h2>Not “Made in Israel”</h2>
<p>Under the new <a
href="http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/israel/documents/news/20151111_indication_of_origin_fact_sheet_final_en.pdf">regulation</a>,
labeling of goods imported into the EU “must be correct and not
misleading.”</p>
<p>Products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank,
including East Jerusalem, and Syria’s Israeli-occupied <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/golan-heights">Golan
Heights</a> can no longer be marked “Made in Israel.”</p>
<p>The EU requires that the words “Israeli settlement” be added to
the labels that consumers will see in stores.</p>
<p>It is unclear how the regulation will be enforced: Israeli
exporters <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-deas/uk-supermarket-sells-fruit-illegal-settlement-made-israel">routinely
deceive</a> customs officials and retail chains about the origin
of their goods.</p>
<p>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).’”</p>
<p>The EU considers “Palestine” to be limited, at most, to the
occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip – just 22 percent of historic
Palestine.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.article1collective.org">Article 1 Collective</a>,
a group that advocates for Palestinian rights under international
law, had this tongue-in-cheek suggestion of what the new labels
might look like:
</p>
<div id="file-32481" class="file file-document file-text-oembed
oembed-rich oembed-default oembed-twitter">
<div class="oembed-content">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">"<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EU?src=hash">#EU</a>
approves labeling of Israel settlement products" Will they
be using our label? <a href="https://t.co/Ypne5dsQ1a">https://t.co/Ypne5dsQ1a</a>
<a href="https://t.co/LtXbwrlQ44">pic.twitter.com/LtXbwrlQ44</a></p>
— Article1Collective (@Article1C) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Article1C/status/664424134814887936">November
11, 2015</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<h2>EU hypocrisy</h2>
<p>The EU move smacks of hypocrisy.</p>
<p>While taking a minor step, EU governments still refuse to end
their <a
href="http://www.eccpalestine.org/the-eu-must-stop-its-support-to-israeli-military-companies-and-institutions/">arms
trade</a> and other material support for Israeli crimes, as
hundreds of European trade unions and other organizations have <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-deas/eu-must-cease-material-support-israels-crimes-say-leading-trade-unions">demanded</a>.</p>
<p>EU countries sent weapons and military exports to Israel <a
href="http://www.bdsmovement.net/2015/links-that-kill-13476">worth
$1 billion</a> in 2012-13.</p>
<p><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/greek-forces-train-israel-syriza-led-government-deepens-alliance">Greece,
Italy</a> and <a
href="http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/90563-151028-german-israel-armies-hold-largest-joint-drill-in-jewish-state">Germany</a>
continue to carry out joint training with the Israeli army,
despite its <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/balance-un-gaza-report-cant-hide-massive-israeli-war-crimes">well-documented
war crimes</a> against Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.</p>
<p>My colleague <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin">David
Cronin</a> has meticulously documented the myriad ways the EU
funds and actively supports Israel’s war machine.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>Yet, France continues to hypocritically <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/france-now-more-repressive-boycott-calls-israel">prosecute
and fine</a> its own citizens for the “crime” of calling for
just such boycotts.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>Nazi comparisons</h2>
<p>Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Emanuel Nahshon <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/world/middleeast/eu-labels-israeli-settlements.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur&_r=0">said</a>
the new labeling policy was “discriminatory” and “smacks of
boycott.”</p>
<p>In a sign of their anger, Israeli officials <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.685539">canceled
meetings</a> with EU counterparts.</p>
<p>As <em>The New York Times</em> <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/world/middleeast/eu-labels-israeli-settlements.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur&_r=0">reported</a>,
Israeli politicians condemned the move as an “echo of the
Holocaust-era branding of European Jews and their storefronts with
yellow stars.”</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/michael-oren">Michael
Oren</a>, the former Israeli ambassador to Washington who is now
a lawmaker in the government coalition, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/AmbassadorOren/photos/a.144894462240963.30277.115428891854187/1008614729202261/?type=3&theater">posted
a photo on Facebook</a> of a storefront in Nazi Germany daubed
with a Star of David and the word “Jew,” and a sign telling
Germans not to frequent Jewish-owned businesses.</p>
<p>Some Israel supporters <a
href="https://twitter.com/redbrasco/status/662363016374038529">posted
images on social media</a> of the EU flag emblazoned with a Nazi
swastika.</p>
<p>The pro-Israel publication <em>The New York Times</em> hammered
the point home in its own social media messaging:
</p>
<div id="file-32482" class="file file-document file-text-oembed
oembed-rich oembed-default oembed-twitter">
<div class="oembed-content">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">EU to label Israeli goods made in
settlements, a move some equate to Nazi's yellow star <a
href="https://t.co/i6OYDXl0jm"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://t.co/i6OYDXl0jm">https://t.co/i6OYDXl0jm</a></a>
<a href="https://t.co/cxArXEeVqI">pic.twitter.com/cxArXEeVqI</a></p>
— The New York Times (@nytimes) <a
href="https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/664470906916442113">November
11, 2015</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Might as well show courage</h2>
<p>These unhinged reactions holds two key messages. First, by
comparing EU labeling to Nazism, Israel’s backers demonstrate that
no tactic is too depraved or indecent.</p>
<p>Using the Nazi genocide to deflect criticism from Israel’s
racist, illegal theft of land from Palestinians cheapens the lives
of the millions of Jews murdered by Europeans.</p>
<p>But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself recently
showed that such disgusting propaganda was fair game when he <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-benjamin-netanyahu-trying-whitewash-hitler">fabricated
the story</a> that Hitler got the idea for the Holocaust from a
Palestinian.</p>
<p>The second lesson is one that chronically gutless European
leaders should heed.</p>
<p>Once Israeli leaders have labeled you a Nazi, there’s really
nothing worse they can say.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>The price is the same, so you might as well support all
Palestinian rights and all legitimate means to achieve them.</p>
<p>But sadly, EU leaders are unlikely to absorb this. Instead,
they’ve been trying to assuage Israel’s rage by professing a deep
desire for even more cooperation and complicity with it, and
downplaying the significance of the labeling move.</p>
<p>The most important message is this: EU leaders will continue to
coddle Israel’s brutal regime of occupation, apartheid and
settler-colonialism unless European citizens maintain and escalate
their valiant solidarity campaigns with the Palestinian people.</p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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