Copenhagen Municipality votes to boycott Israeli settlement products

City Hall wants to stop trade with illegal Israeli settlements

Copenhagen councillors voted last Friday in favour of a boycott of products from illegal Israeli settlements.

The illegal Israeli settlements have long been the subject of much debate. The settlements are Israeli civilian communities built on lands occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

International support
The international community considers the settlements to be illegal, and the United Nations has repeatedly upheld the view that Israel’s construction of settlements constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The majority of the councillors who passed the motion were members of centre-left parties. The proposal itself was submitted by Socialistisk Folkeparti.

A natural step
“When trading with illegal settlements, you are indirectly supporting them, which the UN and the Danish government has encouraged us not to do,” said Sisse Marie Welling, a SF councillor.

Welling said the boycott was a natural step for the municipality since the city does not invest in companies working in the settlements.

READ MORE: Products from Israeli settlements should be labelled, Søvndal says

Aarhus has already passed a similar motion.





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