Could the Anti-Israel Boycott Threaten U.S. Military Assistance to the Palestinians?

The Central Boycott Office in Damascus is convening another of their meetings this week to discuss ways to further the economic, cultural and diplomatic boycott of Israel. The once powerful organization, established in 1951, has lost much of its clout. It was a big thing decades ago to impose a boycott on Israeli oranges or to ban Coca Cola for dealing with Israel. But today, Israel is such an economic and technological powerhouse that it’s difficult, even self-destructive, for Arab countries to enforce the boycott.


A few years ago a Gulf kingdom ordered a large shipment of drip irrigation equipment from Israel. The Israeli company felt compelled to erase all “Made in Israel” tags on the piping. The kingdom’s purchasing agent came back complaining that it was hard to move the merchandise because his customers wanted proof the product was made in Israel.

Today, a boycott of Israeli products would mean doing without many models of cellphones, computer processors, and medicines, to name just a few products containing technologies developed in Israel.

Perhaps that’s why eight Arab countries, including Jordan and Egypt, stayed away from the boycott meeting. But 14 other countries and representatives from the Palestinian territories did show up, according to the AP account.

It’s worth following up to see which countries attended and who the Palestinian representatives were. Were they officials from the Palestinian Authority? With Secretary of State Rice shepherding Israel and the Palestinian Authority to Annapolis, it is hoped that the PA is not engaged in economic warfare against Israel.

The would-be boycotters should know that Congress loathes the Arab boycott.

The following excerpt is from the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008, HR 2764:

SEC. 634. It is the sense of the Congress that…
…the President and the Secretary of State should continue to vigorously oppose the Arab League boycott of Israel and find concrete steps to demonstrate that opposition by, for example, taking into consideration the participation of any recipient country in the boycott when determining to sell weapons to said country….

If the Palestinian Authority attended the Damascus boycott meeting, could it jeopardize the extensive military training and assistance the U.S. Government is providing to the Palestinian Authority?

Sphere: Related Content