Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
AN EU DECISION to label goods from Jewish settlements is unlikely to damage Israel’s economy, but officials in the country fear that what they call the “anti-Semitic” move will encourage a boycott campaign against the country.
Israel harshly condemned the decision, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comparing it to Nazi-era practices and saying the EU “should be ashamed.”
PM of Israel
PM of Israel
“The labelling of products of the Jewish state by the European Union brings back dark memories,” the premier said as he wrapped up a visit to Washington.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, from the right-wing Jewish Home party and known for provocative statements, called the move “anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish,” adding that “European hypocrisy and hate against Israel have surpassed all limits.”
In anticipation of the move on Tuesday, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz called it “disguised anti-Semitism”. The foreign ministry summoned the EU envoy to the country.
The EU has insisted it was only clarifying existing rules on the place of origin for goods that will go on sale in the 28-nation bloc, adding that it had nothing to do with a boycott, which it says it does not support.
Wine bottles manufactured in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank on display at a supermarket in Jerusalem. Ariel Schalit / AP/PA
Ariel Schalit / AP/PA / AP/PA
It amounts to a set of guidelines for labelling products from settlements in the Palestinian territories and annexed east Jerusalem as well as the Golan Heights, all occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The settlements, deemed illegal under international law, are one of the main stumbling block to peace efforts, as those in the West Bank and east Jerusalem are built on land Palestinians see as part of a future state.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation said the EU decision was a positive step but that it did not go far enough, calling for a ban on such commerce.
Limited economic effect
It is not the impact on trade that has alarmed Israel, experts say, though the European Union is Israel’s largest trade partner.
The goods in question account for only two to three percent of Israeli exports to the European Union, according to Israel’s ambassador to the EU, David Walzer.
He estimates their value at €187 million per year.
Advertisement
“In fact, it involves only the agricultural products, the wine, the cosmetic products which require an origin label,” said Ohad Cohen, head of external commerce at Israel’s economy ministry.
“Labelling will at most involve $50 million in exports.”
Dan Balilty / AP/PA
Dan Balilty / AP/PA / AP/PA
Most manufacturing exports from the settlements involve components or parts later assembled into finished products, making them difficult to trace.
Settlements also export farm goods, including dates, fruit and vegetables, along with wine from the Golan and cosmetics from the Dead Sea.
If required, Israel seems capable of finding new markets.
Dan Catarivas, head of international relations at the Manufacturers Association of Israel, said it was unfortunate that politicians were equating labelling with a boycott.
“We have to distinguish between the labelling that is imposed on us by the European Union and a boycott, which is completely unacceptable,” he said.
Memories of SodaStream
Israel has been the target of a global boycott campaign aimed at ending its occupation, known as BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions).
According to an Israeli parliamentary report, the campaign has not so far had a noticeable impact. Over the past nine years, exports have risen from $7.8 billion to $15.6 billion.
Associated Press
Associated Press
But officials are unnerved by any bid to mount a campaign that they see as attempting to delegitimize the Jewish state.
They saw SodaStream, which manufactures a device for making fizzy drinks at home, become embroiled in boycott calls and close a factory in a West Bank settlement and relocate to Israel.
Beyond that, the differentiation between Israel and its settlements — and its implications for the future — puts Israelis on edge.
“Behind the legal quibbles, there is a willingness on the part of the Brussels bureaucracy to influence the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which in any case does not fall within its jurisdiction,” foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said.
@offtheball: I’ll believe it when I see it – NPHET are running this country; don’t forget that Dublin, Limerick and every other county are under continual threat of lockdown until we learn to ‘behave’ and NPHET takes the shackles off this government.
There was a guy who drank in a pub I worked in and his song was ” You took a fine to leave me loose heel, four hundred children and a fox in the field” I would pIss myself laughing!!
@Joe Toner: What about that song by America? You’d think at some stage across the desert he would have thought about giving that poor horse some sort of a name.
Great news but give me strength : TV not aLOUD and music ( that not live ) kaput. Just please for the love of baby Jesus and the dalai lama start making sense .
I know this is going to be a stupid statement but I’ll say it anyway. This virus is not going to go away. A vaccine could take a long time to come about. I know a lot of people have died because of it and of course it is tragic but if we keep people away from it for so long nobody will be able to try and build up an immunity to it. We have to try and get back to a level of normality without people thinking they might die if they’re are more people in a single setting there should be.
@Mac Dara Powell: now that was the most ridiculous one of them all, even the Taliban wouldn’t come out with that, NPHET need to be kicked to touch, the mess that is the Health budget shows us what happens when you let doctors have an influence on financial and economic decisions
@Mac Dara Powell: now that was the most ridiculous one of them all, even the Taliban wouldn’t come out with that, the mess that is the Health budget shows us what happens when you let doctors have an influence on financial and economic decisions
@Thomas O’ Donnell: they said if the tv is too loud people might have to raise their voices, and this spreads the virus more, you couldn’t make this stuff up
@Paul O Neill: No you couldn’t make it up. You would have to employ experts in the field to study whether talking louder increased the likelihood of spreading the virus. And it does.
In some of the smaller pubs it will definitely have to be a one-man-band kind of job.
Plenty entertainment in the pubs opened in my village – fighting mostly, what can you do when there’s no music to dance to but beat the head off each other? Do people not go to the pub for a conversation anymore? Packed in like sardines too, no Gardai in rural areas to police the rules.
While it’s great that its allowed – unless there is extra funding for it – you would have to be a pretty generous publican to employ musicians when you would be stretched to cover staff wages. You could save €5K by not renewing the commercial Sky Sport subscription.
For how long? With recent spikes I notice construction workers sharing transport & no face coverings worn. When sites close and they are out of pocket, they might cop on. See it every day in garages when they go for breakfast.
'Love nonetheless': EU's top diplomat says Trump's 'tough love' on defence better than nothing
48 mins ago
1.7k
8
Verdict
Richard Satchwell found guilty of the murder of his wife Tina Satchwell in 2017
20 hrs ago
33.7k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 198 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 137 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 178 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 141 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 103 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 104 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 47 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 43 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 161 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 73 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 96 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 102 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 45 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 60 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 30 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 113 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 116 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 85 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 63 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 108 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 91 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say