Agricultural products originating in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the occupied Syrian Golan continue to enter European markets under false Israeli origin labels, according to a new investigation published on Wednesday, Anadolu reports.
The report, Importing Occupation, published by the Global Echo Litigation Center, alleges that products from settlements are routinely exported to Europe as products of Israel despite longstanding EU policies requiring a distinction between Israel and the territories it has occupied since 1967.
“Retailers and food manufacturers responsible for labelling their products are involved in consumer deception by falsely labelling the origin of agricultural settlement goods exported to the EU, labelling them as ‘from Israel’, rather than from Israeli settlements in occupied territory, e.g., ‘West Bank (Israeli settlement)’ or ‘Golan Heights (Israeli settlement)’,” the report said.
Researchers analyzed more than 30,000 export records covering 6,827 agricultural shipments exported from Israel between October 2017 and February 2026.
According to the findings, more than 17% of agricultural shipments destined for Europe contained products originating in Israeli settlements, while the figure rose to nearly 20% for exports specifically bound for EU member states.
