One of Amsterdam's kosher supermarkets informed its customers earlier this month that, starting last week, it would no longer be possible to find a long list of products on its shelves that originated in Israeli settlements.
The list included several products from the Achva food company, including cakes, tahini, halvah and chocolate spread; cakes from the Abadi bakery; and Yarden, Hermon, Gamla, Jerusalem and Zion wines.
"We're working hard to find suitable replacements, so we can maintain our full range of products as much as possible," the announcement said. "If you notice empty shelves, understand what it stems from."
The empty shelves in the Netherlands, the Eurovision boycott over Israel's participation and the calls in Ireland to cancel today's soccer match against Israel's national team are all part of a growing wave of economic and cultural measures that are slowly filtering down to the streets of Europe.
Alongside the ban on imports of goods from the settlements, which is openly aimed at the occupied territories, the calls for cultural and sports boycotts against Israel as a whole largely reflect Europe's frustration over the conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The Amsterdam supermarket sent the notice following the Dutch government's decision this summer to ban imports of goods from the settlements starting on September 22. This move, Dutch officials said, is meant to bring the country's trade policies in line with international law, under which the settlements are considered illegal.
The ban not only prohibits importing from the settlements, but also selling or buying goods from the settlements, providing services that facilitate commerce in these goods and bypassing the bans in any other way. The measure also applies to travelers' personal luggage: Customs officials are authorized to inspect tourists arriving in the Netherlands for such goods and confiscate them.
Israel's Channel 12 News reported testimony from passengers on an El Al flight last week who said they were subjected to checks for products from the West Bank. So far, however, there have been no reports from other flights of similar searches or evidence that the procedure is being systematically enforced.
The Netherlands is the fourth country in the European Union to implement such measures, after Spain, Ireland and Belgium. A diplomat from one country that has already imposed sanctions on Israel said he had trouble imagining anything that could turn the clock back.
"It wasn't easy to decide to impose the current sanctions, but it also wouldn't be easy to remove them," he said. "It's hard to say at the minute what might enable a return of settlement products to the shelves in the future."
"The goal is to push Israeli public opinion and influence the government to change its policies," he added. "Not all the sanctions we considered would have achieved this goal equally effectively, because when you impose sanctions on some far-right activist or another, that has no significant public impact."
The Netherlands' decision on settlement measures preceded the announcement earlier this month by 11 other countries, including Britain and France, that they also planned to ban goods from the settlements.
These countries' joint statement said they made this decision due to "unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion, including the unacceptable decision to publish tenders for the E1 settlement project," which would link Jerusalem with Ma'aleh Adumim and is widely seen as a step that would sever the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state.
Following the entry into force last week of an order banning the import and sale of products from Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, we informed the Dutch Embassy in Israel this evening that Dutch diplomats operating in Ramallah must return their
The statement also said the government's actions were undermining the possibility of implementing a two-state solution, and that the signatories vehemently oppose any step that would constitute de facto annexation of any part of the West Bank.
In addition, Britain announced that it would expand its sanctions regime to individuals and organizations involved in expanding or financing the settlements.
The economic significance of these steps is not yet clear. The European Union is Israel's largest trading partner, and in 2024, bilateral trade totaled more than 42 billion euros ($48 billion). But the proportion of this total that stems from products directly linked to the settlements isn't known.
A senior Israeli official recently rejected the claim that Britain's sanctions were directly linked to the E1 competitive bidding process. "Our information about Britain's intention to impose sanctions on trade with the settlements long predated the E1 incident," he said. He linked the decision to the British Labour Party's convention and an attempt to influence next month's election in Israel.
He also said that Israel has a deep disagreement with Europe on the settlement issue. "They define all the settlements as illegal," he explained. "But our Supreme Court has ruled otherwise, and our attitude is different."
Either way, Haaretz reported on Sunday that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has ordered the deadline for bidding on the E1 tenders postponed by a month, until after the election. Her decision said this would reduce concerns that the tenders were being issued solely for electioneering.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar is at the forefront of Israel's response to the wave of European sanctions. Government officials are trying to tailor individually adapted responses for each of the countries that imposed boycotts on Israel in an attempt to deter other countries from following suit.
Sa'ar harshly criticized the Netherlands' move, which he termed antisemitic, and ordered that Dutch representatives be removed from the U.S.-backed International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat.
On Sunday, he also announced that Israel would revoke the diplomatic credentials it grants to Dutch representatives based in Ramallah. Without the credentials, the diplomats would not enjoy diplomatic immunity, and their entry to and exit from the Palestinian Authority's territory through Israeli checkpoints would depend on Israel's goodwill. Many foreign diplomats serving in Ramallah or elsewhere in the Palestinian Authority's territory live in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, and the move could disrupt their work.
But it chose a particularly harsh response to the British sanctions. In addition to removing Britain's representatives from the Gaza support center, it ordered the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem. It also ended Britain's involvement in training Palestinian Authority forces and barred 12 British citizens from entering Israel.
"Our message is clear," Sa'ar said. "Any country that acts in a hostile and unilateral manner against Israel will lose influence and relevance in the region."
Alongside the economic conflict, efforts to impose cultural and sports boycotts on Israel are continuing. Nevertheless, the Dutch public broadcaster NPO sent a conciliatory message last week when it said the country would participate in the next Eurovision, which will take place in Burgas, Bulgaria, in May, after boycotting the previous one.
"The Song Contest was founded to bring the people of Europe together after the Second World War," said Jet de Ranitz, who chairs NPO's executive board, in a statement. "We are seeking that connection again now."
In contrast, Ireland's public broadcaster has already announced that it will boycott Eurovision 2027 to protest Israel's participation.
In Ireland, the calls for boycott have reached the national soccer team as well. The team eventually played its Nations League game against Israel in Hungary on Sunday, despite calls from Ireland's opposition parties to boycott it. But according to Irish media reports, reserve goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu refused to play against Israel and removed himself from the team.
Nevertheless, the decision to play the game doesn't seem to indicate any change in Ireland's attitude toward Israel. Rather, it stemmed from the fact that had the team refused to take the field, it might well have been handed a harsh penalty that could range from a hefty fine to being tossed out of the Nations League. Such a boycott would also have potentially affected Ireland's role as one of the hosts of the Euro 2028 tournament.
