Israel sharply criticized the decision by Belgian company Brussels Airlines to remove Israeli halva from its airline because the product is manufactured in the West Bank.

Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said the decision of Brussels Airlines, which operates daily flights to Tel Aviv, ‘’an invalid decision which places a black flag of shame on the tails of the company's planes."

‘’Such a company has no place in the skies of the state of Israel and its name should be erased from the flight billboard at Ben Gurion airport,’’ the minister added.

The decision of the Belgian airline company to remove the Ahva brand halva snack from its airline food came following a pressure from a pro-Palestinian activist organisation which noticed that it was being served on a flight from Tel Aviv to Brussels.

The organization claimed that the snack is manufactured in the "occupied territory" of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).

Achva Halva is manufactured in a facility at the Barkan industrial zone in Samaria.

In his response, Brussels Airlines said that ‘’the company offers passengers on its flights a vegetarian meal which includes dessert. On our Tel Aviv Brussels line the local catering company provided a dessert called 'Vanilla Halva" which did not correspond to what we ordered."

"A passenger alerted us that the aforementioned dessert is a controversial item. As an airline company which serves an international array of people from different backgrounds and cultures we have a responsibility to offer items that everyone can approve of and we therefore decided to change the dessert."

The Israeli minister emphasized that "together with the wonderful manufacturers who are active in Judea, Samaria , the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights, we will overcome any attempts to prevent us from implementing our right to build and create growth in our country."

In the Barkan industrial zone, Palestinians and Israelis are working together and earn similar salaries.

Yaakov Malach, owner of the Ahva factory which produces the halva, said the factory ‘’ is an ingathering of the exiles. Palestinians, Israeli-Arabs, Jews, Samaritans, and settlers all work here.’’

‘’Peace begins here, not from airlines. Peace comes from places where people work shoulder to shoulder. It's true co-existence. We work with most airline companies, and I'm happy that they (Brussels Airlines) is just a small company, and that this won't create a snowball effect. By the way, it's not definite that this company will stop working with us. Just because they told one tourist (that they would stop) doesn't mean that they'll stop buying from us."

‘’Those who don't want to buy from us will learn to get by without us. Despite all of the boycotts in Europe - the moment that the consumer decides that they like the product they'll buy it. The fact is that 20% of everything we make is exported, and we export at good prices."