Republican Senators Introduce Bill to Prohibit Changes to Country of Origin Labeling on West Bank Goods
Eight Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced a bill July 29 that would require goods manufactured or grown in Gaza or the occupied West Bank to be labeled "Made in Israel" rather than "Made in the West Bank." Goods from the occupied territories were labeled Made in Gaza/West Bank from 1995 until early this year, when some parts of the West Bank continued to use "Made in the West Bank," but others switched to "Made in Israel" (see 2011200049). The part of the West Bank where nearly all of the 400,000 Jewish settlers live is the section of the West Bank that changed designations.
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"Left-wing activists abuse country-of-origin labels in order to stigmatize products" made in this territory controlled by Israel, Cotton said in the press release announcing the bill. He and his co-sponsors say that those who would boycott goods made in the West Bank are antisemitic. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said in the release, "Last year, President Trump dealt a serious blow to the [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] movement when he ended the U.S. government’s discriminatory treatment of Israeli goods produced in Judea and Samaria, and required these imported goods to be labeled as ‘Made in Israel.’" Judea and Samaria are pro-settlement terms in Israel for the West Bank.