ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – A large Swiss private humanitarian aid group ran full page ads in Zurich’s NZZ last week to support a decision by Migros to clearly identify the provenance of products that come from the Palestinian Occupied Territories.
The group, Heks (Swiss Protestant Interchurch Aid group), known as Eper in French, is calling on Migros to go one step further and not carry the products because of human rights violations in the area.
Israeli media have reacted angrily to what they are calling a boycott, which Migros says is not the case. Similar measures were recently taken by South Africa and Denmark, who will not continue to allow products from the settlements to be labeled as coming from Israel.
The Jerusalem Post Tuesday 12 June published an article entitled “Swiss Jews slam supermarket boycott of settlement products”, mistakenly noting that “Swiss-Jewish organizations sharply criticized last week a full-page advertisement in the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung promoting the Migros supermarket’s decision to boycott products from Israeli settlements.”
The web site Europe-Israel says anti-Semitism is doing well, in its argument that Migros is “disinforming” the public by referring to “colonies” rather than disputed territory.
Three Jewish groups protested the ads in a letter sent to the head of Heks, noting that other nations accused of human rights abuses do not see their goods boycotted.
The letter was sent by the Fédération suisse des communautés israélites FSCI, the Plateforme des Juifs Libéraux de Suisse PJLS and l’Union Suisse des Comités d’Entraide Juive VSJF
Migros says it is working with suppliers in order to specify on products their precise sourcing, rather than “Israel”, in order to give consumers a choice. The new labeling system takes effect in 2013, but at present Migros has not responded to Heks’s demand that it stop carrying products from the Occupied Territories.
Labeling: consumer choice but also preferential tarifs at issue
The issue of precise labeling and customs duties has come up in the past, notably in the Swiss parliament, where in 2009 Soda-Club products were the focus of a debate because of “made in Israel” labels when they were manufactured in Maaleh Adumium; Dead Sea skin products and Golan wine were also mentioned.
Swiss foreign policy covering Israeli trade follows Euroopean Union policy, which does not include the Occupied Territories in free trade agreements. A European court in 2010 backed a 2009 German ruling that tarifs should apply to products from the settlements, but as Migros points out, it is not always clear what the origin is for food products labeled “from Israel”.
Migros and Coop have been targeted by alternative groups with signed petitions, demanding a boycott of all Israeli products, “until Israel respects international law and recognizes the legitimate rights of Palestinian women and men”, according to group BDS.
Heks paper on Occupied Territory products (Fr)