There are two ways to interpret the Biden administration’s impending move that would require goods produced in the West Bank to be labeled as such. The first is to take it at face value. The Financial Times writes:
The Biden administration is drawing up plans to require goods produced in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank to be clearly labelled as coming from there, according to US officials, another sign of White House unhappiness with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
The final go-ahead for the move, and its timing, have not been decided but it is intended to increase pressure on Israel over rising settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and comes amid US frustration with the Jewish state’s conduct of the war in Gaza.
Well, those are two different things. But the fact that they are tied in most news reports indicates that President Biden wants the public to interpret it as part of his new policy of staying angry at Bibi all the time.
According to the FT, the administration wanted to announce the labeling of Jewish goods last month, but ran into a scheduling conflict: Biden decided to abstain from a lopsided Gaza resolution at the UN, so he waited a bit to hit Israel again.
President George H.W. Bush famously read a note from his staff as if it were part of his remarks to the…
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