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European Court of Justice: All Products Made in Israeli Settlements Must Be Labelled

© AP Photo / Ariel SchalitPalestinian Bedouin homes are seen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election eve vow to annex the Jordan Valley if he is re-elected has sparked an angry Arab rebuke and injected the Palestinians into a campaign that had almost entirely ignored them. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Palestinian Bedouin homes are seen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election eve vow to annex the Jordan Valley if he is re-elected has sparked an angry Arab rebuke and injected the Palestinians into a campaign that had almost entirely ignored them. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) - Sputnik International
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Products made in Israeli settlements must be identified as such with special labelling, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled, finding consumers must be able to take ethical considerations in their purchasing decisions.

The issue has been controversial within and without Israel, with Tel Aviv considering labelling of settler products discriminatory –  meanwhile, France published guidelines in 2016 imposing the system on products made in the West Bank and Golan Heights.

French guidelines on such products were challenged by the Organisation Juive Europeene (European Jewish Organisation) and Psagot, a company managing vineyards in the occupied territories. The pair were concerned such labelling would facilitate boycotts, such as those endorsed by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which the government of Israel considers anti-Semitic.

​However, the ECJ decisively ruled simply indicating goods originate in the state of Israel, as opposed occupied territory, could mislead consumers over the country’s presence in the territories concerned “as an occupying power and not as a sovereign entity", and product information must allow consumers to make informed choices relating "not only to health, economic, environmental and social considerations, but also ethical considerations" as well as observance of international law.

The regions include the West Bank and East Jerusalem, internationally recognised as illegally occupied Palestinian land, and the Golan Heights, annexed from Syria in 1967, which is only recognised by the US as legal Israeli territory.

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