16 of 28 European Union countries want to mark all Israeli products from the West Bank sold in the EU.
The foreign ministers claim the continued Jewish presence in Israel’s Biblical heartland “threatens the prospect of a just and final peace agreement.”
A top Israeli diplomat called marking the products a “yellow badge” akin to how Hitler’s Germany treated the Jews.
Nazi Germany forced Jews to wear yellow badges out in public. (The Telegraph)
Israel National News reported, via Free Republic:
Sixteen out of the 28 EU countries want the bloc to label products from Judea and Samaria in an economic attack on the Jewish state, diplomatic sources told AFP Thursday, confirming a Haaretz report.
The plan was first mooted in 2012, but the 16 member states told EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini it was now time to press ahead as part of efforts to force Israel to divide in a “two state solution.”
The 16 include Britain, France, Spain and Italy but not Germany.
“We would welcome you taking the lead in the (European) Commission in order to complete this important work on labeling settlement produce/products,” the foreign ministers said in the letter, reproduced by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Continued Jewish presence in Israel’s Biblical heartland “threatens the prospect of a just and final peace agreement,” they claimed, adding that labeling would make it clear to consumers what they were buying as endorsed by EU leaders at a summit in 2012.
In response, a senior Israeli diplomat told the EU “labeling products from Judea and Samaria is a yellow badge,” referencing the “Jude” stars the Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust. Thursday marks Holocaust Remembrance Day.