JERUSALEM (AP) – A German department store said Sunday that it’s putting eight Israeli wines back on the shelves after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused it of boycotting Israeli goods.
KaDeWe said on its Facebook page that the wines had been temporarily removed so the importer could relabel them in accordance with new European Union rules that require products originating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be labeled as such.
The store apologized and said that “as of today the eight Israeli wines will be back in our assortment” and that “in this matter, which was about a European Union recommendation, we acted too quickly and insensitively.”
The EU decision earlier this month to begin labeling settlement products infuriated Israel, which says the move is unfair and discriminatory, and has linked it to a growing international boycott movement.
Netanyahu said earlier Sunday that the German department store’s actions constituted “a boycott in every respect,” adding that KaDeWe was once owned by Jews before the Nazis seized it.