The European Union’s decision to label products made in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Golan Heights and Jerusalem has sparked controversy and criticism in its wake, with critics claiming the EU harbours a potential bias against Israel, citing other occupied territories that have yet to warrant similar guidelines, including Morocco-occupied Western Sahara and Chinese-ruled Tibet.
On Monday, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary would not partake in the labelling guidelines, calling them “irrational.”
Today, during a visit to Israel’s Knesset, European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Israel chairman Fulvio Martusciello said the labelling decision was a “mistake.”
“The decision to label products was a mistake,” the Italian MEP said. “Europe is loud about Israel, but quiet about 200 other conflicts around the world.”
Martusciello also commented that several other European leaders were unsure about implementing the decision, which at this point is not mandatory. Throughout the European Union, all member states are required to label fresh fruit, vegetables, wine, honey, olive oil, eggs, poultry, organic produce and cosmetics.
European Parliament Member Marijana Petir, of Croatia, reiterated Martusciello’s sentiments, saying, “We will not boycott Israeli goods.”
During the meeting, Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein stated that Israel was disappointed by the EU’s decision, noting that many Palestinians work in factories in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
“If this decision leads factories to shut down, it will increase unemployment and despair on the Palestinian side, and the way from there to terrorism is short,” he said.
Earlier this year, following his decision to relocate the SodaStream factory out of the West Bank and into the Negev, the company’s CEO Daniel Birnbaum said, “SodaStream should have been encouraged in the West Bank if [the BDS movement] truly cared about the Palestinian people.”
“All the people who wanted to close [the West Bank factory] are mistaken,” Ali Jafar, a SodaStream shift manager from the West Bank, told the Associated Press. “They didn’t take into consideration the families.”
