France’s outgoing ambassador to the U.S. Gérard Araud told the Atlantic in an interview on 19 April that he believes Israel is an apartheid state. “They [Israel] have the West Bank, but at the same time they don’t have to make the painful decision about the Palestinians, really making them really, totally stateless or making them citizens of Israel. They won’t make them citizens of Israel.
In addition to organizing and hosting a peace conference in Paris on 1/15 (see “The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” above), the French govt. published (11/24) new regulations calling for the accurate labeling of goods imported from the oPt. In line with the European Commission’s 11/2015 guidelines (see JPS 45 [2]), the purpose of the regulations was to alert customers that they were purchasing goods from a settlement, rather than Palestinian-made goods. Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the decision, and a spokesperson said (11/24), “We regret that France, where there’s a law against boycotts is advancing steps that could be seen as giving a tailwind to radicals and the boycott movement against Israel.”