Israel's allies meet in Europe to combat labeling regulations

Legislators from the European region in the Israel Allies network gathered in Prague this past week for a policy summit to discuss the labeling regulations and boycott movements proposed by the EU against Israeli products and businesses.

According to a statement by the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF), chairpersons of Israel Allies caucuses throughout Europe strategized about combating the EU regulations on labeling products from Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and the Golan.

Israel Allies caucuses in the EU and the UK had already taken a stand against the labeling laws and, in the case of the Netherlands, even passed a resolution against them. The summit focused on strengthening and expanding reactions toward this discriminatory policy.

Each of the attending legislators served as chairs or members of the parliamentary Israel Allies caucus in their country and had a faith-based connection with Israel. Ten countries were represented, among them the Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary, UK, and Spain. Speakers at the event included MK Sharren Haskel, IAF president Josh Reinstein, Lawfare Project executive director Brooke Goldstein, and Andrew Tucker, Director General of The Hague Initiative for International Cooperation (THINC).

MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen, Chairman of the European Parliament Israel Allies Caucus, highlighted the discriminatory nature of the regulations: “The EU should withdraw the interpretative notice where goods from Jerusalem, Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria are requested to be separately labeled to highlight that the products come from those areas,” he said, adding that in his opinion, “the interpretative notice is discriminative and based on anti-Zionist assumptions. Overall, the European Council policy on the status of ‘the occupied territories,’ the ‘pre-1967 borders’ and settlements should change.”

The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus serves as a sister-caucus to the parliamentary Israel Allies caucuses around the world. Haskel, who is co-chair of the KCAC, participated in the conference in order to convey Israel’s appreciation for the efforts of Christian politicians to combat antisemitism and encourage them in their efforts. She said that “after three years of not leaving Israel, I traveled to Prague together with my infant twins, because their future was at risk of suffering from ever-increasing antisemitism.

“It was our Christian allies who were standing at the front lines of the boycott campaigns against Israel, serving as crucial voices of reason against these discriminatory policies” Haskel said.

IAF Europe Executive Director Leo van Doesburg added that “governments in Europe should firmly reject the EU labeling regulations for goods from the disputed areas. These rules were targeting areas belonging to the Jewish state and were focused on products from Jews living there; this was an assault on Israel’s sovereignty and had an antisemitic character.”

IAF President Dr. Josh Reinstein said that “labeling products exclusively from the one and only Jewish state violated the internationally-accepted IHRA (International Holocaust Memorial Alliance) definition of antisemitism. Our allies were mobilized and prepared to fight against these racist regulations that singled out Israel.”

Legislators call for European countries to move embassies to Jerusalem

The conference concluded with an official celebration in the Czech Senate in honor of Jerusalem Day in the presence of Mayor of Prague Bohuslav Svoboda and Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari. At the event, IAF Europe parliamentarians presented a resolution to the Senate highlighting the importance of Jerusalem as the indivisible capital of the State of Israel and urging European countries to move their embassies there.

The resolution stated that they “urge the parliaments of European countries and the European Parliament to adopt resolutions calling on their respective governments to recognize the status of Jerusalem as the indivisible capital of Israel and to move their embassies to Jerusalem in recognition of that fact.”