The Brussels City Council unanimously passed a motion on Monday evening to block public procurement of products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with the MR and N-VA parties abstaining.

The PTB party, which backed the majority motion, had proposed a motion to sever both economic and political ties until Israel “complies with international law.”

The council presented a more city-focused text, concerning its public procurement which incurs around €70 million in annual expenses for the capital’s central municipality.

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    It’s a good start. These things are how we get real action against Israel. Doubly so given that Israel’s main economic partners are America and the EU (they can’t trade with their neighbors for obvious reasons).

    • Microw@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Iirc EU countries are not supposed to import goods from the settlements anyway, same with from Moroccan occupied West Sahara. But those companies arent exactly transparent and will simply slap a sticker on their product saying “made in Israel/Morocco”.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Is that the case? AFAIK it’s simply that they need to label them as made in settlements and most people don’t want to buy or stock Israeli settlement products.

    • Billy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 months ago

      they have trade agreements with both egypt and jordan.
      and both jordan and mainly egypt import a lot of gas from israel, while jordan also imports a lot of water.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Okay as an Egyptian this is my first time hearing about this. Let’s make that “can’t trade much with their neighbors”.