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Europe Poised to Put Warning Labels on Jewish-Made Products
(Washington Free Beacon) Adam Kredo - The EU is poised to mandate that Israeli products made in contested territories carry consumer warning labels. The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice recently issued a non-binding opinion arguing that EU law requires Israeli-made products to be labeled as coming from "settlements" and "Israeli colonies." Brooke Goldstein, executive director of the Lawfare Project, said, "The Advocate General's opinion said that goods produced by Muslims are to be labeled from 'Palestine,' and goods produced by Jews labeled as coming from 'Israeli colonies.' Both people are living in the same geographic location, and yet Jewish goods are being treated differently." "This labeling fiasco will turn into a nightmare for EU importers of goods from any and all countries involved in territorial disputes. I trust the court will...reject the push to politicize labeling." Yaakov Berg, CEO of the Psagot winery, said, "The application of the current EU trade directive to label goods from Jewish producers, and only Jewish producers, in the West Bank is discriminatory and illegal. We are not the Israeli government. Psagot winery is not responsible for Israeli government policy." "But because we are Jewish owners of a winery in a beautiful and hotly contested land, we are being targeted and punished. And we are being punished precisely because we are Jews living in Judea where we have every right to be, as do the Palestinian Arabs and Druze and the Christians." "No one should be discriminated against because of their religion. If you support a Palestinian state, would you support a Judenrein [Jew-free] state of Palestine? That seems to be what the EU is proposing when it says Jewish businesses are illegal in Palestine but Muslim businesses are not, in the same location! Such a de facto boycott of Jewish products, the likes of which we have not seen since Nazi Germany, would definitely run afoul of U.S. law."