Ex-Israeli Parliamentarians Endorse Labour’s Proposed Ban on Settlement Goods

A group of former Israeli law maker from Labour’s sister parties in Israel, Labour and Meretz, have written a letter to Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy and Wayne David in  support[1] of the Labour party’s proposal to ban products made in the illegal West Bank settlements should annexation take place. The ex-Knesset members argue that this policy will bolster Israel’s legitimacy by making “a crucial distinction” between legitimate Israel within the Green Line and West Bank settlements beyond it.

Amongst the signatories are former Chairwoman of the Meretz Party, Zehava Galon, and the former Speaker of Knesset and ex-Head of the Jewish Agency, Avraham Burg.

They congratulate Labour for supporting a “peaceful future for Israel” and working to stop annexation, a policy which they argue will “entrench and make permanent this reality [of occupation], thereby formalising a regime of Apartheid”.

The members of the Liberal Zionist parties dismiss claims that Labour’s proposal constitute BDS and say that a ban of settlement products is not a ban against “Israel in general, nor is it the singling out of the Jewish state”.

Their letter comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson published an article in Hebrew in the largest newspaper in Israel, Yediot Aharonot, where he reiterated his opposition to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. The op-ed was published on Wednesday, July 1st, a date set by the Israeli coalition as the first day from which steps towards annexation may be implemented. 

In his op-ed, the Prime Minister stressed that annexation violates international law and that the UK "will not recognize any changes to the 1967 lines", urging the Israeli government no to go ahead with it.

Yesterday, a letter signed by over 100 Jewish legal heavyweights sent a letter to the Israeli government in opposition to annexation. Amongst the signatories were the UK’s ex-Lord Chief Justice, Lord Harry Woolf, former Supreme Court Justices, Lord John Dyson and Lord Lawrence Collins, and Professor Philippe Sands QC.

Hannah Weisfeld, director of the British-Jewish campaign group for peace, said:

“Israelis and friends of Israel in the international community know that annexation will doom Israel and the Palestinian people to a hopeless future with endless bloodshed and conflict.

“While Netanyahu and Trump are recklessly playing with the lives of Israelis and Palestinians for their own political and personal gain, true supporters of Israel are working tirelessly to stop annexation, end the occupation and achieve a negotiated agreement with the Palestinian people.

“In the past few weeks we have seen the mounting opposition in Anglo-Jewry to annexation from across political affiliations and religious denominations. We are proud to speak up on behalf of a majority who support Israel and completely rejects annexation and occupation.”

ENDS

Dear Keir Starmer (Leader), Lisa Nandy (Shadow Foreign Sec), and Wayne David (Shadow Middle East Minister),

We, the undersigned former Members of the Israeli Knesset, come together in appreciation and support for your recently stated position that settlement products should be banned as imports to the UK in response to any Israeli annexation (or extension of Israeli sovereignty) into Occupied Palestinian Territories in the West Bank. As MKs who served for the Israeli Labour Party and Meretz, the sister parties in Israel of the UK Labour Party, we stand firm in our shared commitment to a rules-based international order and to a two-state solution to this conflict, in the context of international agreed-upon parameters that will guarantee equality, dignity, and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Banning settlement products is not a ban or boycott against Israel in general, nor is it the singling out of the Jewish state. Such a measure is an accepted non-violent tool deployed in the international arena to respond to egregious violations of human rights abuses, occupation, and annexation. Contrary to criticism that is being levelled at your position, in taking action against Israel’s illegal settlements, you are helping to make a crucial distinction between Israel’s violations of international law beyond the green line as opposed to the international recognition of and acceptance of Israel within the green line.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law and pose a significant obstacle to peace. The settlements are also central to the discriminatory regime in the West Bank, in which two communities live side-by-side but under different and discriminatory legal systems. Annexation will entrench and make permanent this reality, thereby formalising a regime of Apartheid. 

Thank you for standing in solidarity with the possibility of a peaceful future for Israel and for your rejection of those values which stand in opposition to that future and to justice.

Yours respectfully,