Irish Senate Votes to Ban Goods from Yehudah and Shomron

The Irish senate has voted to approve a legislative proposal that would ban the sale of goods from Yehudah and Shomron and the Golan Heights, clearing the way for passage in the parliament’s lower house, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Called the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, it states that “it shall be an offense for a person to sell or attempt to sell settlement goods,” or assist in the sale of such goods or services.

It gained final approval by the Seanad Éireann (Senate of Ireland) by a vote of 28 to 14, with 18 absent or abstaining.

Now it goes to the Dáil Éireann (lower house). If approved there, it will be sent to the president for his approval.

The law would punish offenders with up to five years in jail or a fine up to $285,000, or both.

Israel’s Minister of Public Security and Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan termed the vote a “disgrace” that’s “infected with anti-Semitism.”

“The Irish Senate has given its backing to the despicable boycott organizations linked to terror groups and makes cynical use of the term ‘human rights’ to spread hatred that only [aggravates] the conflict,” the minister said in a statement.

“If this law passes, we will act to expose its true motives … and to prevent its implementation in accordance with international trade laws,” he concluded.

Irish Senator Frances Black of the Sinn Féin party sponsored the bill. Black has been associated with Al-Haq—a Palestinian human-rights organization based in Ramallah, with connections to the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Ynet said on Thursday.

She has vilified the existence of Israeli communities in Yehudah and Shomron and Golan as “war crimes” and compared her bill to Irish legislation aimed against the former apartheid in South Africa.