US adopts EU explanation that labeling Israeli products is merely a consumer ‘clarification.’ It isn’t, it is ethnic targeting.By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus
Someone has to ask the question: is it ignorance or is it malevolence?
The U.S. State Department justifies hiding behind a claim that a new European effort at ethnic labeling for Israel is something other than an effort to force the Jewish State to capitulate to the world’s demand it welcome yet another neighbor Arab state committed to her end. And to claim that this latest European effort is merely a new consumer information initiative? Really?
You decide.
In the lead up to the announcement by the European Union that it would require ethnic labeling of Israeli goods made or produced beyond the so-called “Green Line,” reporters repeatedly peppered spokespeople for the U.S. government regarding the position it would take on this EU effort.
As of Tuesday, at the daily press briefing, spokesperson Mark C. Toner was completely unprepared to respond to questions about the government’s position. Instead, Toner repeatedly responded that yes, the U.S. is completely opposed to the “settlements” – Jewish communities situated in Judea and Samaria, the historic heartland of the Jewish people – but also, yes, the U.S. is opposed to boycotts.
So on Wednesday, Nov. 11, when the EU issued its new guidelines, presumably the U.S. State Dept. would be prepared to respond.
What do the EU guidelines say?
Products and goods from beyond Green Line Israel can no longer be labeled as “product from Israel.” That’s because it is the position of the EU that any millimeter beyond the armistice line created by the end of the Arab War against the reborn Jewish State in 1948 is not actually Israel.
Okay, that is not exactly a surprise. But the EU guidelines go further: it is not permitted to simply label any of those goods as “product from the West Bank” (as if that wasn’t already a shameful re-labeling of the territory known for millennia as Judea and Samaria). Nope, the labels have to indicate not only the geographic location, but also indicate it was made by JEWS, as in “product from the West Bank (Israeli settlement)”.
But here’s the real rub: any products made beyond the Green Line by Arabs can say, according to these guidelines, either ‘product from the West Bank (Palestinian product),’ ‘product from Gaza’ or even ‘product from Palestine.’
What, you say? There is no state of “Palestine?” Well, that doesn’t stop the Europeans. You see, the whole point of this and so many other efforts is to create that nonexistent state. That is why the otherwise consistent logic being rendered illogical and inconsistent by this new initiative is completely ignored.
There was absolutely no doubt about how the Israeli government feels about the EU labeling initiative.
In a video created by the Israeli Prime Minister and posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Netanyahu pointed out that there are “hundreds of territorial conflicts around the world,” but the EU “has chosen to single out Israel and only Israel” with this kind of labeling initiative. Such conflicts include those in the Western Sahara, Tibet, and Kashmir.
In addition, earlier this week 36 members of the U.S. Senate, representing both parties, came out strongly against the then-impending guidelines. That initiative was spearheaded by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY).
But by Thursday, the U.S. State Department figured out exactly what is its position on the EU labeling of Israeli products: no problem!
Why is it that the U.S. has no problem with the EU labeling goods from Israel? Because the EU explained that its labeling policy is not a boycott! It is just providing consumer information.
Here is what Toner said: “”We understand the objective is to provide EU consumers correct information on the origin of products, as required by EU law.”
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