Israel Matzav

Israelis to boycott British goods?

A petition prepared by MK Ronit Tirosh (Kadima) that calls on Israelis to boycott British goods has garnered 41 signatures thus far in the 120-member Knesset. The petition is in response to British action in labeling goods from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights as coming from those areas and not from Israel. According to Tirosh, labeling goods in that manner vitiates the need for negotiations by pre-determining their outcome.

Tirosh revealed last Wednesday that she was preparing a petition calling on the public to reconsider its use of British companies' goods and services. Forty-one MKs from both coalition and opposition parties signed on to the petition, which is not the first - but is certainly the most widely supported - call to boycott British goods launched from within the Knesset. Tirosh's petition was designed to protest the recent guidelines issued by the British government permitting retailers to mark differently goods produced by West Bank Jewish residents and West Bank Arab residents so that shoppers could more effectively avoid settler-produced goods.

Tirosh described the meeting with [British ambassador to Israel Tom] Phillips as "very pleasant" but added that "the country that he represents believes that everything over the Green Line is illegitimate, and thus they have no problem in responding to what he described as a 'grassroots' call for transparency."

Phillips, Tirosh said, told her that the British government was acting according to guidelines issued by the European Union, and that "we have to be sure that we don't mislead the customers."

Tirosh said that she asked whether the West Bank labeling would also appear on products produced in east Jerusalem, but Phillips told her that he did not have an immediate answer.

"My impression was that the next step is east Jerusalem," Tirosh told The Jerusalem Post following the meeting.

Phillips, she said, repeatedly emphasized that the labeling guidelines were not because of a boycott, but merely to "increase transparency."

Yeah, right. And Hitler built the concentration camp ovens to bake bread.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:36 PM