At a time when the Irish Senate has voted to ban the import of products from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the French government has taken a scandalous step backwards by effectively "suspending" the obligation to label these products as such – an obligation that had finally entered European Union (EU) regulations after several years of postponement.

An overview of the latest developments in this pathetic series of events

In November 2015, in accordance with its consistently asserted policy of rejecting colonization and its assertion that settlements, illegal under international law, are not part of Israeli territory, the EU finally produced an "Interpretative Notice" that defined the concrete ways in which to label products from Israeli settlements, by requiring the mention "Israeli settlement" as the only way to avoid misleading consumers on the true origin of the product. France "followed up on this EU notice" and in November 2016, it published a "Notice to Economic Operators" which essentially reproduced the EU notice, specifically concerning the inclusion of the mention "Israeli settlement" on product labels.

Even this was too much

This went too far for the steadfast supporters of Israel’s settlement policy, which is unsurprising in light of the fact that one of this policy’s main objectives is to normalize of the settlements so that they are considered an integral part of Israel. An Israeli wine producer located in a settlement and the European Jewish Organization (OJE), a support agency for Israeli colonial policy, filed a joint request with the French Council of State to challenge the legality of the EU’s "Interpretative Notice" as well as that of the French Ministry of Economy and Finance’s legal notice.

In its May 30th 2018 decision, the Council of State did not respond to the request but instead presented a "preliminary question" to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

Labeling was too much for the French government, too. The AFPS, concerned by the non-application in France of the labeling regulation, was received on July 17th by the French General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF). The Directorate announced that it had decided, in agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to suspend the application of the November 2016 Notice, by freezing the prosecution validation requests made by regional inspection services. The "caution" ostensibly exercised due to the risk of this Notice being annulled by the CJEU for a technicality cannot hide the obvious political meaning of this decision: an encouragement to the colonial policy of the Israeli government.

A blank check for Benyamin Netanyahu

In accordance with international law, Israeli settlements are considered illegal by the international community. The European Union thus established a policy that distinguishes between settlements and Israeli territory. Satisfied with this "differentiation" policy, it has stopped short of recognizing the illegality of these settlements, which would entail prohibiting the importation of their products. Nonetheless, the labeling regulation (along with the July 2013 “guidelines”) is one of the only concrete measures taken to date by the EU regarding the settlements, and it represents a significant precedent for civil society in its struggle against Israel’s colonial policy.

By freezing the application of this regulation, the French government is jeopardizing its implementation and encouraging Netanyahu’s government in its attempt to whitewash the settlements.

This decision by the French government is totally outrageous. The European Union made one, and only one, small step towards the "differentiation" between Israeli products and settlements, and the French government decided to challenge it. Clearly, the only possible response to this for all citizens who believe in the application of the law is to boycott all Israeli products. Furthermore, this French decision strengthens our demand for a complete ban on the importation of settlement products.

At a time when the Knesset has institutionalized apartheid, a time when Israel’s settlement and ethnic cleansing policies continue against the Palestinians, particularly in zone E1, a time when the blockade of Gaza has been further tightened, its demonstrators massacred and its population bombed, France must impose sanctions on Israel instead of encouraging it to continue denying the Palestinian people their national rights.

The AFPS Executive Board
23 July 2018