Last week the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that any foodstuffs produced by Jews or Jewish-owned businesses in areas of Israel outside the 1949 armistice lines must be labeled as such. The legal decision renders binding an advisory ruling issued by the European Commission in 2015. Caroline Glick comments on the latest ruling, which, she notes, emanates from a group of countries that insist they are “friends” of the Jewish state:
Israel . . . never stood a chance of getting justice at the ECJ. . . . For decades, the EU has been waging a hostile campaign against Israel. The goals of its campaign are to call Israel’s right to exist into question, weaken Israel economically and politically, and strengthen Israel’s enemies at Israel’s expense. The EU wages its campaign through political, diplomatic, and economic warfare. . . . At the UN, EU member states vote against Israel and for its enemies as a general practice. . . . The EU leverages its trade and scientific cooperation with Israel to normalize boycotts of Israeli companies, institutions, and Jewish citizens who operate beyond the 1949 armistice lines.
An attorney who argued against the labeling policy before the ECJ commented that the ruling sets a destructive precedent, whereby any political pressure group will be able to demand that the EU mandate special labeling practices on any products from anywhere. But, writes Glick, this argument is hopelessly naïve:
The verdict—like the EU’s legally unsupported claim that Israeli “settlements” built beyond the 1949 armistice lines are illegal—is not general. It is very specific. It applies only to Israel. The ECJ’s ruling will not be applied on behalf of vegans or Tibetans. Everyone knows it was directed against Israel and its Jewish citizens alone. The verdict was political, not legal.
In their contacts with the EU, its agencies, and its aligned organizations, [Israeli] government officials likewise act on the basis of the mistaken belief that it is possible to convince the Europeans to abandon their hostile positions against Israel through reasoning and evidence. Perhaps the best example of this misguided Israeli practice is the respect Israel accords the prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
ICC investigators are currently preparing charges against Israelis for so-called war crimes on the basis of false accusations submitted by the Palestinians. . . . Israel continues its dialogue with the ICC prosecutor and permits the prosecutor’s representatives to enter Israel in the hopes of convincing it of Israel’s innocence. But the fact the ICC is even giving a hearing to, let along proceeding with, its investigations of false accusations against Israel is proof that it is a hostile body. It will never give a fair hearing to Israel.
It is also time for Israel to act in the legal arena in jurisdictions that are not inherently hostile to the Jewish state.
Read more on Caroline Glick: http://carolineglick.com/our-european-friends/