It was reported on Sunday 10 Kislev that The Kaufhaus des Westens in Germany, usually abbreviated to KaDeWe, decided to ban all goods originating in the so-called “West Bank”, areas liberated by Israel in the June 1967 Six Day War, it has removed all of these products from its store’s shelves. The store decided to outdo the newly-accepted EU ban and not just label these products as originating in “occupied areas” but to ban them from the store entirely.

It is important to realize that KaDeWe is the largest department store in Continental Europe.

The announced move was received harshly in Israel, especially from a prominent store in Germany, with government officials including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu calling on the store to retract its decision and on German to decry it.

The store later on Sunday apologized, explaining the “confusion” regarding its earlier statement, expressing sorrow over the announced “mistaken move”, making certain to add the store carries over 200 products from Israel on its shelves and rejects any and all forms of discrimination.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)