EU: We won't 'boycott' Israel (and by 'boycott' we don't mean what you think it means)

On Wednesday, European Council President Donald Tusk visited Israel and said Israel has no reason to fear a European boycott.

“I find it perplexing that some in Europe are still possessed by the anti-Israeli obsession,” Netanyahu lamented. Hundreds of thousands of people are being displaced and slaughtered in the Middle East, said Netanyahu.

“But some in Europe believe the only thing they have to do is to press, boycott and vilify the Middle East's only true democracy, Israel,” Netanyahu stated.

“I find this inexplicable but I find it also to the detriment of Europe,” he added.

Tusk assured Netanyahu that he need not fear a European boycott.

“I think that we have to avoid words like boycott because for sure this is not the intention of Europe. And I am absolutely sure that no country in Europe wants to boycott Israel,” Tusk said.

On Thursday, the European parliament voted in favor of labeling products from settlements.  "Settlements" in this context includes the Golan Heights and Jerusalem.

The EU still believes that the Golan Heights should be returned to the country formerly known as Syria.

The EU still believes that the Old City of Jerusalem should not be under Jewish control.

The EU thinks the solution to the Middle East breaking apart is pressuring Israel.

The EU wants to boycott Israel, even as its representatives claim they wouldn't use such words.

The long simmering European threat to specially label products from the settlements moved another step forward toward implementation on Thursday when the European Parliament backed the move in a non-binding resolution on the Mideast that passed overwhelmingly.

The resolution, which called on the EU to play a greater role in the Mideast diplomatic process, also stated that the parliament “welcomes” the EU’s commitment that all agreements with Israel “must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967,” and encourages EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to “take the lead” on “completing the work on EU-wide guidelines on the labeling of Israeli settlement produce.”

The resolution, which stated that “preserving the viability of the two-state solution through concrete action and ensuring full respect for the rights of civilians on both sides must be an immediate priority for the EU and the international community,” passed by a vote of 525 to 70, with 31 abstentions.