Israel to stop exporting settlement poultry, dairy to EU

Israel will stop exporting poultry and dairy from settlements to the European Union, Israeli and European officials announced.

Effective Sept. 1, Israeli poultry and dairy exports to the EU will be restricted to products from within the Green Line, Israel’s pre-1967 borders, the French news agency AFP reported.

An Israeli official involved in discussions with the EU told AFP that Israel does not export a significant amount from the settlements and that most of those products cater to observant Jews.

However, a Foreign Ministry official told The Jerusalem Post that certain technicalities in the EU legislation barring these imports, which were approved in February, could allow for a wider ban on settlement products.

The EU already labels such products, but has no ban on the sale of settlement products. The new policy concerning poultry and dairy stems from the European Commission’s decision not to recognize the authority of inspection agencies over the Green Line.

Israel’s Agriculture Ministry told dairy farms and factories that it plans to comply with the edict, even as it works to sway the EU to repeal it, according to The Jerusalem Post.

David Elhayani, who heads the Jordan Valley Regional Council, told the Post that the EU policy is “anti-Semitic” and that many farms are focusing on alternative markets, particularly Russia.