Ben White
Source: Middle East Monitor
Israel's Finance Minister Yair Lapid has issued a stark warning of the consequences should the U.S.-led peace process end in failure. Reports of Lapid's comments on the threat posed by a boycott of Israel came hours before news of further divestment targeting Israeli companies by the Norwegian government.
Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies, Lapid said that an evaluation prepared by the Finance Ministry had produced an estimate of billions lost in exports should an "even partial" European boycott be imposed, and that "Israel's economy today is much more vulnerable than its national security".
The Israeli economy will retreat, every Israeli citizen will be hit directly in his pocket,
the cost of living will rise, budgets for education, health welfare and
security will be cut, and many international markets will be closed to
us. 33% of Israeli trade is with the European Union. If there is no
political settlement and we enter a scenario where our economy drops 20%
in exports to the EU, the impact on the GDP would be 11 billion shekels
annually, and 9,800 employees will be laid off immediately.
According to Israeli media reports, Lapid listed "an unsettling list of organizations already joining the BDS movement against Israel", and warned "that the tipping point could come unexpectedly". South Africa, Lapid observed, "did not realize until well after the fact the severity of the sanctions against it". The Wall Street Journal noted that while "Israeli officials have been bracing for this possibility [of boycott]", most have "expressed their sentiments in private".
Meanwhile, it has been announced that the Norwegian Minister of Finance has excluded Israeli companies Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus from the government's $800 billion oil fund, the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund holding 1% of global equity markets. The decision follows a recommendation from the Council of Ethics to remove the firms from the portfolio "due to an unacceptable risk of the companies, through their construction activity in East Jerusalem, contributing to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict".
These latest developments come as Netanyahu has called for a meeting with ministers to discuss BDS, particularly in light of the recent decision by Dutch pension fund PGGM to divest from five Israeli banks. BDS campaigners have also hit the headlines with the row over Scarlett Johansson's dual role as ambassador for both SodaStream and Oxfam, the actress' relationship with the leading charity finally ending today.
