Being condemned as contrary to international law by the international community, the Israeli settlement policy has been repeatedly criticized. It provokes a lack of understanding and rejection among the majority of the European population.
This also affects the trade relations with Israel: Calls for boycotts are used as a means to influence Israeli settlement policies. However, these practices call forth opposing voices, too: The actions are accused of being an expression of anti-Semitic resentments and it is feared they might question Israel's right to exist.
Frequently though, this debate is held in simplified terms. On the one hand there are indeed civil society actors calling for an overall boycott of Israeli products. On the other hand there is a discussion within the EU about a possible requirement to label products coming from the settlements. Besides, some companies have become active by terminating their business relations with firms who operate in the settlement territories, but they do not generally reject any cooperation with Israeli firms.
In HSFK-Standpunkt Nr. 3/2014 Wirtschaftsboykotte unter Generalverdacht: Unternehmensverantwortung und Boykott-Kampagnen gegen Israel, Svenja Gertheiss and Klaus Dieter Wolf take a differentiated look at the topic. They analyze and contextualize the motifs and approaches of central actors and connect them to the debate on Corporate Social Responsibility.
This HSFK-Standpunkt can be downloaded as a free PDF (German only).