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patrick martin

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and French President Francois Hollande hold a bilateral meeting during the opening day of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on November 30, 2015.PHILIPPE WOJAZER/AFP / Getty Images

Israel has striven since its inception to be perceived as a part of Europe, an offshore Euro-island in a tempestuous sea of Arabs.

Over the years, it has made sure its best soccer clubs compete under the banner of UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, as its best basketball teams play in the Euroleague. At the United Nations, Israel is considered a member of the Western Europe and Others Group, which also includes Canada and the United States. In the annual Eurovision song competition, Israel is an eager contender, and three times has produced Europe's best singer.

Israel has negotiated a special trading status with the European Union, the next best thing to full EU membership, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never been prouder than when his country was accepted into the economic club known as the OECD, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which conferred Euro-like status on the Jewish state.

So it is odd to hear the Netanyahu government in recent days declaring a virtual diplomatic war against its beloved Europe, and putting six European states – Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, France, Luxembourg and Malta – on a blacklist.

The casus belli was the announcement in November by the European Union that EU states should not falsely label the origin of products from Israeli Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. It said they should not be labelled "Product of Israel" as many have been, but rather "Product of West Bank Israeli settlements" or some such thing.

European consumers want to know, the EU says, where products and produce come from. For example, they are happy to buy dates from Israel, they say, but do not necessarily want to buy dates from the Israeli communities in the occupied Jordan Valley, communities they do not consider to be part of Israel, but of a Palestinian state in the making.

Dates are one of the products most affected by this EU ruling. Some 50 per cent of the world's delicious Medjool dates come from Israeli producers, but about 70 per cent of them actually are grown on Jewish farms in the occupied Jordan Valley. Altogether, the annual profit to Israelis from sales of this dried fruit amounts to about $300-million (U.S.).

Also affected are cosmetics from companies that use natural ingredients from the Dead Sea as well as West Bank wine.

The black-listed countries are those Israel views as instigators of the EU initiative. Israeli officials have told local journalists that delegations from those countries seeking to visit the West Bank or Gaza will henceforth face a more difficult time gaining entry, while senior officials may no longer get to meet with Israeli senior officials.

Just this week, Belgium's Foreign Minister cancelled a scheduled trip to Israel after he was informed that Mr. Netanyahu, the acting Foreign Minister, was "too busy" to meet with him. So too, it seems, was the deputy foreign minister.

Israeli authorities are making such a big deal of all this because they see the labelling of "illicit" West Bank products as the thin end of a wedge that will lead to more complete boycotts of Israel. And they are not wrong. That is the next logical step in the growing international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign intended to press Israel to accept international law as applying to the Palestinians and permitting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Israel is not going without a fight. Rather than acquiesce, it is about to launch an international PR campaign arguing that the settlements are actually legal and not subject to international law as most countries, including Canada, believe.

It is basing this on the conclusions of a commission appointed by Mr. Netanyahu in 2012 that, not surprisingly, found that the 4th Geneva Convention, which deals with territory occupied during a conflict, does not apply to this "disputed territory" and that, therefore, Israel is free to build in this land subject only to its domestic laws.

Suffice it to say that Israel is probably the only country in the world that accepts this point of view and it will be a tough sell.

Israel, however, is counting on the stature of its judicial system to help win some converts. The commission was headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, Edmond Levy, a former legal adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; one-time ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker; and a former deputy president of the Tel Aviv Court, Tchia Shapira. Never mind that the panel was handpicked for its right-wing credentials and pro-settlement disposition as much as for its titles.

Europe is not likely to be impressed by this or other tactics.

On Thursday, Austria's Vice-Chancellor, and Science Minister, was informed that Israel's Science Minister would meet with him only in occupied east Jerusalem and not in Tel Aviv or west Jerusalem as has been the practice in the past. Take it or leave it, the Austrian was told. He decided to leave it and stay at home.

The two sides are now fully engaged and it remains only to be seen whether Europe needs Israel more than Israel needs Europe.

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