Republicans Oppose Possible Change to Labeling of Goods From West Bank
Four Republican representatives on April 12 pushed back as the Biden administration seems poised to reverse a decision by then-President Donald Trump that required products made in certain parts of the West Bank to be labeled as “Made in Israel.”
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On April 5, the Financial Times reported that the government intends the move to push back on Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. U.S. officials said the administration almost announced the step in March but decided to wait after the U.S. allowed a U.N. Security Council ceasefire resolution to pass that month, the Financial Times said.
Florida's Reps. Gregory Steube and Neal Dunn and Tennessee's Reps. Chuck Fleischmann and Andy Ogles signed the letter. It's “common sense” to label those West Bank products as “Made in Israel” because the Israeli government “exercises ‘relevant authorities’ in those areas," they wrote
Goods produced “where Israel does not exercise those relevant authorities, such as other parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, are not products of Israel and labeling should reflect that,” the lawmakers said.
Changing the labeling requirement would be “giving in” to the demands of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the letter said. Calling BDS an antisemitic movement that aims to “vilify and delegitimize the State of Israel,” the lawmakers said the move would give the products a new label, “products of the West Bank,” that would provide information helpful to BDS activists targeting Israel’s economic activities.