Israel is worried about the move made by the ministers of the countries of the European Union to support the boycott of products originating in Israel’s illegal colonies in the West Bank. This encourages consumers of their countries to also boycott these products. The International Community recognised Israel with pre-1967 borders. As per the international law the territories occupied by the Israel after 1967 are considered illegal. Israel is angry with this stand. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to boycott the European Union dubbing its stand as immoral.

Israel summoned the representatives of the European Union to Tel Aviv to register its protest against their stand. Israel has also sent its representatives to the capitals of the European Union countries to try to convince them to pull the boycott decision. In a recent move the speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein held a meeting with the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz in Berlin. Edelstein said in the meeting that Israel will stand firmly against the decision and resort to the judiciary to cancel the boycott decision.

He further said that the boycott decision would also affect the Palestinian workers and it would cut their source of income. The decision would also lead to a destabilisation of peace in the areas being used commonly by both countries (Israel and Palestine).

At a time when Israel is clashing with the European Union we find it also in conflict with the Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström who demanded an examination of whether the killings that have taken place in the recent months of unrest between Israelis and Palestinians were extra-judicial and without trial.

Recently 155 Palestinians were shot to death by Israeli (security personnel) who claimed that most of the Palestinians attacked them. However the Palestine nationals said that a big number of Palestinians were killed just based upon suspicion. Therefore the Swedish Minister demanded thorough credible investigations into these deaths in order to clarify and establish responsibility.

Netanyahu who decided to boycott the Swedish delegation commented on the statement of Wallström issued on January 15 saying that “it is outrageous immoral and stupid”. Meanwhile the Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel announced that his country will continue the ban visits by the Swedish Foreign Minister. It is well-known that relations between two countries have been tense since 2014 when Sweden recognised Palestine’s statehood. In the wake of November 2015 Paris attacks Ms Wallstrom also angered Israel by saying a sense of hopelessness among Palestinians was a factor behind the rise of Islamist extremism in Europe.

There is also a diplomatic row between Israel and Brazil over the appointment of a West Bank settler leader Dani Dayan as Israel’s next ambassador to the country. Netanyahu who is also Foreign Minister of Israel said that he is still adhering to his decision regarding the nomination that was made two months ago but he rejected to comment on the stand of Brazilian government that refused to accept Dayan.

The Marif Newspaper quoted the Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel as saying “the Ministry will never accept the stand of the Brazilian government because disapproving of an Israeli diplomat on the basis of their ideology is a red line and Israel rejects it.” The future of the diplomatic row is unknown but according to Netanyahu Israel will downgrade diplomatic relations of Israel with Brazil- a country that accommodates some 110000 Jewish citizens. However some 200000 Jews of Brazilian origin live in Israel.

Brazil recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv after Israel’s attack on Gaza in 2014. The then Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff described the Israeli military operation as carnage. The Israeli Foreign Ministry criticised the Brazilian stand as its spokesman said “It is unfortunate to dub a military operation as massacre. The economic giant (Brazil) became a political dwarf’”.

On the other hand the drive launched to boycott Israel culturally and academically in Western Countries has gained remarkable momentum especially in university circles. This move made Israel angry and forced it to hold an international conference in Tel Aviv in March of this year to discuss how to tackle these growing phenomena.

There are more news reports about boycotts by the Methodist Church of Israeli banks and crises between the Israeli Embassy in Paris and the French Newspaper ‘Liberation’ due to the writing? of a Palestine freedom fighter Marwan Barghouti who is considered by Israel as terrorist. Another crisis is with Ukraine which threatened to punish those Israelis supporting Russian occupation in Quram (Crimea).

After reading this news a person will reach the conclusion that there are some contrasts as Israel is facing crises with some countries in European Union and Latin America but the relationship of Israel with the Arab World is heading towards betterment. In addition there is security coordination between Israel and the Palestine Authority and some Key Arab countries as well.

Israel has accessed the Gulf region by establishing offices for its representation. Last week the Sudanese Foreign Minister expressed his readiness to normalise relations with Israel. This was after the President of Sudan Omar Al Bashir received a visit by the Chair of the Friends of Israel association. Previously the same woman’s visit to Israel was considered by Arabs to be an act of betrayal.

Israeli tourism and trade has become more active within the western part of Arab region despite all the issues that have taken the Israeli-Palestinian issue from bad to worse. Is it right for us to indulge in such unreasonable and strange behaviour adding this to the list of already manifested minor signs of the Last Days before the Day of Judgement or ‘Doomsday’?



Fahmi Huwaidi is an Egyptian journalist & columnist.