Feb 17, 2014
Using economic sanctions to
influence Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians is a “new
form of anti-Semitism,” Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said,
even as boycott activists contended that recent successes had
Israeli leaders “panicking.”
Bennett told a Jerusalem conference of American-Jewish
leaders today that despite boycott efforts, Israel continued to
draw record foreign investment, especially in its technology
sector.
“I’m not at all ignoring this sort of threat, but let’s be
very clear: Anyone who suggests to boycott Israel, that’s an
unacceptable approach, that’s a new form of anti-Semitism,”
Bennett said. He asked conference participants to campaign
against boycotts.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid and other Israeli officials
have warned that the sanctions’ still-negligible economic effect
may deepen after several European companies and institutions cut
ties in recent months with Israeli companies that operate in
east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Palestinians claim the
territories, captured by Israel in 1967, for a future state.
The sanctions campaign also won a higher profile after
actress Scarlett Johansson cut her ties last month with the
U.K.-based humanitarian group Oxfam, which criticized her for
acting as a celebrity spokeswoman for SodaStream International
Ltd. (SODA), the Israeli maker of home soda machines with a factory in
the West Bank.
Boycott leaders, meeting today in the West Bank near
Ramallah, said a decade of activism was bearing fruit.
The boycott initiative has “reached a tipping point in its
struggle for comprehensive Palestinian rights under
international law,” said Omar Barghouti, a founder of BDS, the
Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions movement. “The Israeli
government is panicking because of the recent fast growth of BDS
around the world, particularly in countries that have always
been considered Israel’s closest allies in the world: the U.S.,
Germany, the Netherlands, among others.”
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-17/israeli-minister-slams-boycotts-as-new-form-of-anti-semitism-.html?cmpid=yhoo.
Showing posts with label economic boycott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economic boycott. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Faaborg-Andersen: Israel faces danger of full isolation if peace talks collapse
04 February 2014
Source: Middle East Monitor
The EU's ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, warned on Monday that Israel would find itself in complete isolation should the peace talks with the Palestinians collapse.
In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 television, Faaborg-Andersen pointed out that the potential scale of an economic boycott is not only shaped by the policies of European governments, but also, and more importantly, the measures taken by private organisations and firms.
Andersen cited the decision of some pension funds, insurance companies and banks to boycott relations with Israel on the basis of its continued expansion of the settlements.
Israel's settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal according to international law, and the international community widely views the continued construction of settlements as a threat to peace.
The ambassador reiterated that the EU does not have the power to influence the individual decisions of these private organisations and firms.
Link:
www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/9586-faaborg-andersen-israel-faces-danger-of-full-isolation-if-peace-talks-collapse.
Source: Middle East Monitor
The EU's ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, warned on Monday that Israel would find itself in complete isolation should the peace talks with the Palestinians collapse.
In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 television, Faaborg-Andersen pointed out that the potential scale of an economic boycott is not only shaped by the policies of European governments, but also, and more importantly, the measures taken by private organisations and firms.
Andersen cited the decision of some pension funds, insurance companies and banks to boycott relations with Israel on the basis of its continued expansion of the settlements.
Israel's settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal according to international law, and the international community widely views the continued construction of settlements as a threat to peace.
The ambassador reiterated that the EU does not have the power to influence the individual decisions of these private organisations and firms.
Link:
www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/9586-faaborg-andersen-israel-faces-danger-of-full-isolation-if-peace-talks-collapse.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Israel's Finance Minister warns of boycott impact, as further divestment announced
30 January 2014
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 minister claimed that "the world will believe [the talks] failed because of us", and thus "there will be a price" – echoing language used
recently by the EU Ambassador to Israel. Lapid also raised the threat
of the EU suspending the Association Agreement which provides the
framework for much Israel-EU cooperation, with The Jerusalem Post citing an EU spokesperson's denial that any such step was being considered.
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.
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.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Israel-Jordan ties threatened
Aug. 10, 2011
JERUSALEM, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Anti-normalization elements in Jordan are threatening economic and diplomatic ties with Israel, sources told The Jerusalem Post.
The Arab Spring, the stalemate in peace negotiations with the Palestinians and Palestinian efforts to gain statehood recognition in the United Nations in September are behind the upswing, sources told the paper.
Examples of the anti-Israel sentiment in the Hashemite Kingdom in recent months include the decision of a Jordanian insurance company to stop covering the cars of Israeli Embassy personnel in Amman, the newspaper said.
The company said it was forced to stop working with the embassy because of the increasing pressure from anti-normalization factions.
The sources also noted the Jordanian press has stepped up anti-Israel rhetoric, citing an article this week on the Amman news service Web site that referred to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a criminal, and described Israel as a "snake" and Zionists as "despicable obnoxious group of people," sources told the Post.
There has also been a marked decrease in agricultural products exported to Jordan since the beginning of the year due to pressure on Jordanian importers, the sources said. Even Jordanians who sell olives to Israel have been subjected to harassment and told the olives sent to Israel are being used to make olive oil for export to Europe for further profit, the paper said.
JERUSALEM, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Anti-normalization elements in Jordan are threatening economic and diplomatic ties with Israel, sources told The Jerusalem Post.
The Arab Spring, the stalemate in peace negotiations with the Palestinians and Palestinian efforts to gain statehood recognition in the United Nations in September are behind the upswing, sources told the paper.
Examples of the anti-Israel sentiment in the Hashemite Kingdom in recent months include the decision of a Jordanian insurance company to stop covering the cars of Israeli Embassy personnel in Amman, the newspaper said.
The company said it was forced to stop working with the embassy because of the increasing pressure from anti-normalization factions.
The sources also noted the Jordanian press has stepped up anti-Israel rhetoric, citing an article this week on the Amman news service Web site that referred to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a criminal, and described Israel as a "snake" and Zionists as "despicable obnoxious group of people," sources told the Post.
There has also been a marked decrease in agricultural products exported to Jordan since the beginning of the year due to pressure on Jordanian importers, the sources said. Even Jordanians who sell olives to Israel have been subjected to harassment and told the olives sent to Israel are being used to make olive oil for export to Europe for further profit, the paper said.
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