ADL slams EU countries for anti-settlements directives

The Anti-Defamation League on Friday sharply criticized European countries for being "out of step" for issuing directives which seek to dissuade their citizens from conducting business with Israeli companies in the West Bank.

The ADL said the measures represented a “new extreme” whose timing is “out of step” with the situation on the ground.

Spain and Italy brought to five the number of major European Union countries warning citizens against investment in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, eastern al-Quds and the Golan Heights.

“At a period when Israel is confronting heightened threats from Hamas and other terrorist elements, the search for the abducted Israeli teens, ongoing rocket fire from Gaza, and intensifying regional instability, it is disappointing that European governments have once again unduly honed in on settlements,” ADL chief Abe Foxman claimed .

“Not only is the timing of this action out of step with the recent security developments, but the suggestion that conducting business with private West Bank-based Israeli companies could violate human rights takes the European position on settlements to a new extreme.”

The ADL accused the European governments of unfairly singling out Israel while refusing to criticize the Palestinian unity government that won the support of Hamas.