Binyamin Netanyahu has written a strongly worded letter to the European parliament president, Martin Schulz, voicing concerns over a proposed EU move to label products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Netanyahu said the plan was “discriminatory” and “emboldening” those who seek to “eliminate Israel”. According to widespread reports in Israel, an announcement on labelling of settlement products is expected within days, perhaps as early as Wednesday, although late on Tuesday some sources in Brussels were suggesting a statement might be delayed.
The proposal has widespread support among EU governments including the UK, which has had labelling guidelines for three years. It would require supermarkets and other retailers to mark out products made in West Bank and Golan Heights settlements, as well as in east Jerusalem, differently from those originating in Israel.
According to sources in Europe, the letter appears to be one of a number sent by Netanyahu to senior European figures and containing similar arguments if not identical language. The Israeli prime minister complains about the planned EU labelling proposal and a recent European parliament resolution backing labelling. He compares the initiative to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement – a claim European diplomats strongly deny.
The EU has defended the move as being about consumer information and choice, although it is clear that it is intended to put pressure on Israeli settlement building.
The letter – written by Netanyahu in October and leaked to the Guardian – complains that the EU is applying double standards by not implementing similar “special labelling of products from [other] territories under dispute”, including northern Cyprus – occupied by Turkish forces in 1974.
It also attempts to define the Israeli occupation as different. “Israel captured the territories currently being contested in a war of self-defence in 1967. Both the UN security council and the general assembly refused to brand Israel as the aggressor at the time,” the letter reads.
Adding that Israel had agreed on a “diplomatic process” that will result in a “compromise based on two states for two people”, he brands the EU proposal a “politicised move” that could “lead to an actual boycott [of Israel] emboldening those who are not interested in Israeli-Palestinian peace but eliminating Israel altogether”.
He added: “The EU’s plans to publish guidelines are especially disturbing at a time when our people are being shot, stabbed and stoned in acts of terrorism stemming from hateful incitement.”
The letter appears to echo, in more diplomatic language, public comments made by Netanyahu when he compared the labelling initiative to Nazi-era policies. “We remember history and we remember what happened when the products of Jews were labelled in Europe,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office a few days before the letter to Schulz was sent.
On Monday, Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs said on its website that the labelling initiative was being encouraged “by anti-Israel organisations, and not by European consumer-protection organisations”. It added: “The labelling guidelines may serve to encourage the idea that the boycott of Israeli products is acceptable.”
While the EU is Israel’s biggest trading partner, the economic impact of the move will probably be small, although the political ramifications may be more significant.
Senior European diplomats have pushed back hard in recent weeks – both in public and in private – against recent Israeli attempts to equate the labelling initiative with support for a boycott of Israel, returning to the theme on Tuesday. “We really do push back strongly against that accusation,” one senior European diplomat told the Guardian, confirming the authenticity of the letter to Schulz.
“For us it is quite obviously not a boycott. Goods produced in settlements will continue to be sold and allowed into the EU market whether they are imported from the West Bank or Golan Heights. But consumers want to know. Essentially this measure appeals to a middle ground in Europe that may not wish to be associated with settlements and may be avoiding Israeli products in general because they are not sure where they are from.
“The UK has had guidelines for three years and in that time UK-Israel trade has increased over that period. It patently isn’t a boycott of Israel. But it obviously does provide information for consumers who want to avoid settlement products.”
For its part – and despite Israeli efforts to link the two – the BDS movement itself regards the EU labelling initiative as falling far short of what it is calling for.
Speaking in September, Rafeef Ziadah, member of the Palestinian BDS national committee’s secretariat, said: “If the EU is serious in implementing its own policy of non-recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the occupied Arab territories of 1967, why doesn’t it implement a ban on the import of products of Israeli companies that illegally operate in the occupied territories? Merely labelling, rather than banning, illegal settlement goods indicates political hypocrisy par excellence.”