The European Union’s (EU) decision to label products from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights will reward terror, Jewish Home chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett told the BBC on Wednesday.
The EU has “singled out Israel specifically, because there’s got to be 200 conflicts or land disputes around the world, and I don’t see them singling out anyone else,” Bennett said.
“Why are the settlements in northern Cyprus not labeled? That’s occupied territory,” he continued, adding that people who purchase goods made in Judea, Samaria or the Golan are “buying their products from Israel...these areas are not occupied. They’re disputed as are hundreds of other locations around the globe. When the EU, of all places Europe, singles out Israel I see that as a new form of anti-Semitism.”
The labeling decision is a reward for terrorism, Bennett declared, adding, “The folks in ISIS, in Al-Qaeda, [and] in Hezbollah are having a field day today because they see that terror works. They go out there killing people from the West and they’re getting their reward.”
“Notwithstanding what the EU says, this is our land and you cannot occupy your own land,” he stated. “If anyone thinks that twisting Israel’s arm into committing national suicide will somehow work - we’re not going to do that.”
Israel earlier on Wednesday called off a number of scheduled EU meetings in response to the labeling decision.
Israel's foreign ministry summoned the EU envoy to the country over the decision and called the step "discriminatory."
EU ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen was informed that Israeli officials would not attend a number of scheduled EU meetings, the ministry said.
"Because of the latest EU decision, Israel is suspending its diplomatic dialogue with the EU in various forums which had been scheduled to take place in the coming weeks," it said.