Alarm in Israel as EU boycott starts biting

[SherriMunnerlyn]

Alarm in Israel as EU boycott starts biting

(AFP) / 1 February 2014

"Israeli government and business leaders are alarmed by a growing international boycott movement and the likely effect of EU measures against exports from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank."

"Cabinet ministers are to meet next week to hammer out a strategy against a growing international campaign to boycott trade linked to settlements, Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday."

"And a group of top Israeli businesspeople has launched a publicity campaign urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make peace with the Palestinians for the sake of the economy."

We see the latest developments discussed in this article, news from the last few days, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund blacklisted on Thursday two Israeli companies involved in building settlements in Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem and US actress Scarlett Johansson stepped down as Oxfam ambassador amid a storm over her ad campaign for a firm operating in a settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The article points out these incidents highlight "the creeping success of a campaign to boycott trade linked to settlements built on Palestinian land occupied during the Six Day War of 1967, and viewed by the international community as illegal."

And as this is happening, the European Union has recently moved to block all grants and funding to any Israeli entity operating beyond the 1967 lines, sparking growing alarm in Israel. (I think this is a reference to what has been called the EU Guidelines, that went into effect January 1).

Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the EU’s ambassador stated last week that, in addition to coordinated action by the EU, Israel’s constant settlement construction was fuelling private moves to boycott products and services linked to the settlements.

According to Lars Faaborg-Andersen, initiatives in Europe to require separate labelling for goods manufactured in the settlements were gathering pace every time Israel announced a new round of construction.

"Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid warned on Wednesday that the breakdown of current peace talks with the Palestinians could strengthen the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and deal a body blow to the economy."

Lapid said that Israel is a country dependent on exports, with 33% of its foreign trade conducted with the European Union.

“Europe is our primary market. Even a 20 per cent fall in our trade with Europe would mean 9,800 workers being fired immediately. Even a partial European boycott would be felt by every Israeli, and the cost of living would go up,” he added.

“Exports will drop by some 20 billion shekels ($5.7 billion/ 4.2 billion euros) annually; GDP will drop some 11 billion shekels,” he said.

"Last May, the Palestine Liberation Organization published an estimate of EU imports of goods produced on settlements, which it put at 229 million euros a year."


Alarm in Israel as EU boycott starts biting - Khaleej Times


I just love all of these new and unfolding BDS developments.

BDS is the perfect way to confront Apartheid.

 

[JakeStarkey]

There is no alarm, Sherri, only the need to deal with ignorant external pressure.

The Arabs are not the equivalent of our American blacks during segregation days.

Your side started a war, renewed it twice, and got your asses kicked.

End of story.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

The AFP does not see things the way JakeStarkey does.

The fact is we all cannot just declare matters the way we desire them and proclaim it to be the end of the story.

And that business of you labelling my side is more of your BS.

I am simply a person of conscious who opposes Apartheid, and we people of conscious supporting BDS are a global force and include persons in every nation and ethnic group and religion in our world, to include Israelis. We will see Apartheid defeated in Palestine, the same way we saw it defeated in South Africa.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

Speaking of Boycotts, a Facebook group is calling for a BDS related Boycott of Israel (a Boycott of certain named products tied to Israel and/or Occupation) for the month of February.

Here is a UPC code identifying products made in Israel, I just learned this helpful information.

 

[Lipush]

The only "alarm" is which of the rocket attacks, and EU don't give a sh*t about that, eh?

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

The only "alarm" is which of the rocket attacks, and EU don't give a sh*t about that, eh?

That is called reaping what you have sown.

And all of these alarms can be dealt with by ending the Occupation.

 

[Billo_Really]

The only "alarm" is which of the rocket attacks, and EU don't give a sh*t about that, eh?

I think they're more alarmed with your military shooting people fishing and farming.

At least the rocket attacks are a response to the occupation. But there is absolutely no plausible reason in the world, that would justify shooting people fishing and farming.

 

[Billo_Really]

That is called reaping what you have sown.

And all of these alarms can be dealt with by ending the Occupation.

Israel is a pariah state that thinks it can live by a different set of rules than everyone else.

 

[Indofred]

This helped the terrible situation in South Africa so I hope it works against Israeli bigotry as well.

 

[Art__Allm]

The Arabs are not the equivalent of our American blacks during segregation days.

Well, maybe the native Palestinian Semites are an equivalent of the Native Black Africans in South Africa?

The situation seems to be similar, there was no state in South Africa before the European colonisation, and there were less Natives in South Africa, than in Palestine before the creation of Israel, and white settlers did not have to do any ethnic cleansing in South Africa.

Why is Nelson Mandela prised as a "Freedom Fighter", but the Palestinian freedom Fighters are called "bad guys"?

Can somebody explain this double standard?

 

[Lipush]

The only "alarm" is which of the rocket attacks, and EU don't give a sh*t about that, eh?

That is called reaping what you have sown.

And all of these alarms can be dealt with by ending the Occupation.

The launchers were sending it from Sinai.

We should totally end the occupation of Sinai!

Oh, wait!




MORON.

 

[Lipush]

That is called reaping what you have sown.

And all of these alarms can be dealt with by ending the Occupation.

Israel is a pariah state that thinks it can live by a different set of rules than everyone else.

Israel is a pariah state because the world hates Jews

True story.

 

[Lipush]

The only "alarm" is which of the rocket attacks, and EU don't give a sh*t about that, eh?

I think they're more alarmed with your military shooting people fishing and farming.

At least the rocket attacks are a response to the occupation. But there is absolutely no plausible reason in the world, that would justify shooting people fishing and farming.

There is no occupation in Sinai.

Sherri's an idiot and you're a super-idiot.

 

[Phoenall]

Speaking of Boycotts, a Facebook group is calling for a BDS related Boycott of Israel (a Boycott of certain named products tied to Israel and/or Occupation) for the month of February.

Here is a UPC code identifying products made in Israel, I just learned this helpful information.

My scanner says it is not an Israeli code, so you are lying. It is just the product details and denotes fresh

 

[Phoenall]

The only "alarm" is which of the rocket attacks, and EU don't give a sh*t about that, eh?

That is called reaping what you have sown.

And all of these alarms can be dealt with by ending the Occupation.

Better still they can be silenced by taking out all the islamonazi terrorists, and flattening the buildings they operate from

 

[Art__Allm]

Israel is a pariah state because the world hates Jews

True story.

Well, the world hates Muslims and Christians, too.

The question is why does the world hate Jews, Christians or Muslims?

Has this hate something to do with the behaviour of some Muslims, Christians and Jews?

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

I would never believe anything you said.

Buying products made by Israel is contributing to their economy, supporting the massacre and genocide of innocent Palestinians, who are surrounded and are being attacked by air, sea and land.

"A bar code starting with “729″ indicates that this product is produced in Israel 729 Israeli Bar Code Association – EAN Israel. This is a modest, simple and effective way to support Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation and ethnic crimes against human beings. Sometimes brands are misleading, a bar code never lies if it carries that 729."

http://boycottisraeltoday.wordpress.com/boycott-israel/

But another article states this information is not always accurate, so you really need to look at the labeling on each item purchased.

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-news-0073.html

Speaking of Boycotts, a Facebook group is calling for a BDS related Boycott of Israel (a Boycott of certain named products tied to Israel and/or Occupation) for the month of February.

Here is a UPC code identifying products made in Israel, I just learned this helpful information.

My scanner says it is not an Israeli code, so you are lying. It is just the product details and denotes fresh

 

[Phoenall]

The only "alarm" is which of the rocket attacks, and EU don't give a sh*t about that, eh?

I think they're more alarmed with your military shooting people fishing and farming.

At least the rocket attacks are a response to the occupation. But there is absolutely no plausible reason in the world, that would justify shooting people fishing and farming.

Not as bad as your police force that shoots people for being black, brown, yellow, red, white and human. How many have been illegally MURDERED by the police in the USA in the last 65 years ? The whole world is kept posted about the treatment given out to innocents by your corrupt police officers

 

[Shaarona]

In the West Bank, pride has become bitterness

By David Ignatius, Published: January 31

HALHUL, West Bank

Hoping to understand the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in human terms, I paid a visit last week to a Palestinian farmer named Hammadeh Kashkeesh, whom I first met 32 years ago. The encounter reminded me of the pain at the heart of this dispute and of how hard it will be for any diplomatic settlement to resolve the bitterness on both sides.

First, try to imagine the landscape and how it has changed in the years of Israeli occupation. Halhul is an agricultural town in the rock-ribbed hills just south of Bethlehem. When I first traveled this route in 1982 to spend two weeks with Kashkeesh, to write a profile of his town, the hillsides were mostly barren. Now, the landscape is dense with Israeli settlements, many of them built since the Oslo Accord in 1993 that created the Palestinian Authority.

Kashkeesh and his neighbors pride themselves on raising what they claim are the tastiest grapes in the world. His access to his vines was obstructed more than a decade ago when a road was built for Israeli settlers who live nearby. He had given up his precious grapes when I visited in 2003, but he has found a way to tend them again. Some of his neighbors aren’t so lucky; their vines have grown wild or died.

Kashkeesh, 67, worked for years as a stonecutter and then a farmer. He managed to send all of his seven children to high school or college.

continued

David Ignatius: In the West Bank, pride has become bitterness - The Washington Post

 

[Lipush]

Israel is a pariah state because the world hates Jews

True story.

Well, the world hates Muslims and Christians, too.

The question is why does the world hate Jews, Christians or Muslims?

Has this hate something to do with the behaviour of some Muslims, Christians and Jews?

Of course.

And the others who blame are hardly blameless.