Europe is marking us again

Let's hope the European Union's ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, believes Israelis are naive, otherwise we might suspect he thinks they -- I mean, we -- are idiots.

Because there is no other way to understand his explanations that labeling Israeli products made across the Green Line and the Golan Heights is neither punitive nor discriminatory, but is a mere technicality, that could even increase their demand. That, Mr. Ambassador, is called the height of hypocrisy.

Ambassador Faaborg-Andersen wants to calm us down: The European decision on Wednesday has nothing to do, in his estimation, with the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. No, Mr. Ambassador, it is worse than that. The decision was made by an official government body, the EU. The decision made by the hypocritical EU strengthens, incentivizes and encourages the BDS movement, some of whose members receive funding from the EU.

It's as if Europe doesn't understand the damage the BDS movement seeks to cause us. Europe also fails to understand just how much it is contributing to this movement with its decision to label Israeli products. Europe needs to remember that the BDS movement is fighting against the "occupation," for the return of refugees, and against the idea of a Jewish state. With its decision yesterday, Europe has fallen in line with the BDS movement. So, thank you Europe. You have marked us in the past; we're used to it already.

The honorable European ambassador needs to understand that Israelis, the overwhelming majority of them, are not willing to accept the marking of their goods, regardless of where they are made. The fate of the relevant borders will be determined through negotiations -- certainly not by Europe. Incidentally, history has taught us that the EU has had a hard enough time determining the borders of its own members. Let's make a deal, darling Europe: After you have finished solving the issue of Cyprus' borders and the non-violent conflict between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar -- which has persisted for over 200 years now -- then talk to us.

Let's get back to the BDS movement. Europe in recent years has funded the activities of various NGOs that have called on EU countries to impose economic sanctions on Israel. Some of these organizations have recommended, among other things, labeling settlement products as an initial step. That sounds promising.

My friend Professor Gerald Steinberg, president of the watchdog group NGO Monitor, was right to remind us yesterday that the Palestinian organization Al-Haq -- which receives funding from the governments of Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Spain, and the United Nations -- declares that labeling farm goods and cosmetics from settlements is a temporary measure ahead of comprehensively banning all goods made across the Green Line. The plan is first to label, then to boycott.

There are more than 200 territorial conflicts in the world today. For some reason Israel has the "privilege" of being the only country whose goods are marked.

Additionally, the EU is completely disregarding the fact that Israel is presently coping with a wave of terror, and that not only does such a decision fail to encourage negotiations, it fosters more radicalization. Has anyone over there in the EU, among the clerks working in their sterile laboratory conditions, sought for a moment to inquire who is employed at these factories in Judea and Samaria-

It needs to be understood that the EU decision is trivial. Israel won't fall because of it. The problems are primarily branding and political. Think for a moment how short a path it is between banning settlement products and banning Israeli products in general.

The Western Sahara, Tibet and Kashmir are disputed conflict areas. The fishing industry in the Western Sahara provides Europe with quality, tasty fish, including wonderful grouper. Pray tell, Mr. European Ambassador, when is the EU planning on labeling its first Western Saharan grouper-

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