If peace Israeli-Palestinian peace talks fail, ‘’the blame will be put on Israel’’ and it would likely face ‘’increasing isolation,’’ the EU ambassador to Israel said, days after US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that boycotts and delegitimization would only expand without a peace deal.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 TV, Lars Faaborg-Andersen said that such a scenario wouldn’t necessarily be a result of European policy, but rather the actions of private companies.
“If Israel continues to expand its presence beyond the Green Line, without a peace agreement being signed, it “will find itself increasingly isolated,” he said.
“Not necessarily because of any decisions taken at a government level but because of decisions taken by a myriad of private economic actors, be it companies, be it pension funds, be it consumers who will be choosing other product on the supermarket shelves.”
It is not the first time that the EU Danish diplomat makes such comments.
Faaborg-Andersen's remarks are not new for an EU official, with several having voiced criticism over Israeli construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.
Last year, the EU published new guidelines barring EU funding for Israeli entities operating beyond the pre-67 Green Line.
Since several months, several private companies have joined the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement against Israel.
In December, Dutch giant water company Vitens decided to stop its ties with Israel’s water company Mekorot, which serves Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and PGGM, manager of the largest pension fund in Holland, pulled out its investments in five Israeli banksbecause they are involved in funding settlements in the West Bank.
More recently, two of the largest banks in Denmark and Sweden announced that they will boycott Israeli banks because they operate in “occupied territories."
Last week, speaking athe Munich conference on security, US Secretary of State John Kerry declared: "Today’s status quo absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained. It’s not sustainable. It’s illusionary. You see for Israel there’s an increasing de-legitimization campaign that has been building up, there are talk of boycotts and other kinds of things. Are we all going to be better with all of that?"
Israeli leaders took issue with Kerry’s statements and his failure to condemn what many here see as an anti-Semitic boycott.
At a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem yesterday, Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel will not negotiate with “a gun pointed at its head,” especially regarding “matters which are most critical to our national interests.”
“The things Kerry said are hurtful, they are unfair and they are intolerable,” Steinitz continued.
Israeli Industry Minister Naftali Bennett said: “We expect of our friends in the world to stand by our side against the attempts to impose an anti-Semitic boycott on Israel and not to be their mouthpiece.”
In response, the State Department issued a statement explaining that Kerry’s remarks were taken out of context, clarifying Kerry opposes boycotts against Israel.
A senior Palestinian negotiator said in comments that he was told that the Obama administration has been coordinating the boycott threat with the EU as leverage to ensure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes along with the talks.
“They agreed to a ‘good cop, bad cop’ attitude,” said the negotiator of the U.S.-EU relationship regarding the boycott.
Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel: ‘’Should Israel be blamed for failure to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians, the European Union is considering canceling its association agreement with Jerusalem, which serves as the legal basis for Israel-EU ties’’.
“Just canceling the association agreement with the EU, which we know is already on the table now as far as they’re concerned, would reduce exports by NIS 3.5 billion, harming the GDP by NIS 1.5b. and causing 1,400 layoffs,” the minister said at the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
A spokesman for the EU delegation in Israel denied however that such a step was being considered.
“There has been absolutely no consideration in the EU of the abrogation of the association agreement,” it said. “It is not in the cards.”
The EU is Israel main trade partner.