In the wake of the European Union’s (EU) decision to label Israeli products from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights, a German department store has removed Israeli products from its shelves.
The store in question is KaDeWe, which is located in Berlin and is Europe’s largest department store. A spokeswoman for KaDeWe, told the Der Spiegel magazine that the store would return Israeli products to its shelves but “only after fixing the labels.”
She did not provide details on what kinds of products were pulled.
Responding to KaDeWe’s decision, a diplomatic source in Israel said on Saturday night that “KaDeWe’s move is appalling and disappointing. The store has a duty to repair the unnecessary damage it caused. Whoever starts with labeling products does not know how it will end.”
Following the EU’s labeling decision, Israeli officials responded with anger, saying the move was essentially a boycott of Israel.
EU officials, however, have denied that the EU is boycotting Israel. Last week, the EU’s ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen lashed out at critics of the body’s controversial decision.
“Talk of a European boycott just does not stand up to a reality check,” he asserted at the Jerusalem Post’s Diplomatic Conference. “Let me say loud and clear: Europe is not boycotting Israel, and Europe is not boycotting settlements.”
Faaborg-Andersen further claimed that “settlement products” will continue to be marketed in Europe and stressed that the EU’s relations with Israel were among the “closest, most diverse and most intense the EU has with any non-member state.”