EU threatens Israel with total ban of poultry

The European Union will impose a ban on imports of all Israeli meat, poultry, and dairy products unless Israel comes up with a sufficiently effective mechanism that differentiates the produce that originates in areas beyond the 1967 borders, according to JPost.

Last month, a Foreign Ministry official warned that EU legislation could lead to a wholesale refusal to accept any Israeli exports produced in the occupied West Bank, the occupied Golan Heights, and the occupied al-Quds ('Jerusalem').

The ban could encompass produce from all Israeli exporters. Israeli officials have "a matter of weeks" to persuade their EU counterparts that they have put in place a system that separately labels produce that is grown in disputed territories.

The decision is in line with official EU policy according to which all settlements beyond the '67 borders are illegal, and hence are not part of Israel.