Yariv Levin (Likud), Israel's Tourism Minister, sharply criticized the decision of Brussels Airlines to remove the Achva Halva from its airline meals because it is manufactured in the Barkan facility in Samaria.
Levin termed the company's decision an "invalid decision which places a black flag of shame on the tails of the company's planes." He added that "such a company has no place in the skies of the state of Israel and its name should be erased from the flight billboard at Ben Gurion airport."
The minister emphasized in his words that "Together with the wonderful manufacturers who are active in Judea, Samaria , the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights, we will overcome any attempts to prevent us from implementing our right to build and create growth in our country."
The decision of the Belgian airline company to remove the snack from its airline food came in the wake of a request by a pro-Palestinian organization which claimed that the snack is manufactured in the "occupied territory" of Judea and Samaria.
Brussels Airlines responded by saying that "The company offers passengers on its flights a vegetarian meal which includes dessert. On our Tel Aviv Brussels line the local catering company provided a dessert called 'Vanilla Halva" which did not correspond to what we ordered."
"A passenger alerted us that the aforementioned dessert is a controversial item. As an airline company which serves an international array of people from different backgrounds and cultures we have a responsibility to offer items that everyone can approve of and we therefore decided to change the dessert."