US Jewish groups slam Iceland capital’s Israel boycott
Reykjavik approves motion to halt city’s purchase of Israeli products until occupation of Palestinian territory ends.
Two prominent US Jewish groups have denounced the council running Iceland’s capital city for voting to boycott Israeli products over the occupation of Palestinian territory.
Reykjavik’s council had approved a motion on Tuesday to halt the city’s purchase of such products until the occupation ends.
It is the latest European city to join a global boycott and divestment campaign.
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights group, issued a travel advisory on Friday to warn Jews of Reykjavik’s “racist vote” which it said could “create an environment hostile to Israelis and other Jews”.
The New York-headquartered World Jewish Congress, meanwhile, urged Iceland’s federal government to act against the boycott, which it said “only strengthens extremists on both sides”.
Israel’s foreign ministry has described the vote as a “volcano of hatred”, the AFP news agency reported.
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law and seen as a threat to the Middle East peace process by eroding the basis for a future Palestinian state.