Dear Member of the European Parliament,
 

We are a group of citizens of Israel who object to Israel’s ongoing military occupation and policies of apartheid against the Palestinians [1]. We support the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) of Israeli institutions, until Israel complies with the internationally recognized human rights of the Palestinian people [2]. 
 
As part of our ongoing support for the Palestinian call, we explicitly ask you not to give your consent to the Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA) that will be voted on, on the 23rd of October. In the political context of Israel’s military and economic control over the Palestinian population,whose violent and oppressive character is well documented in endless UN and independent human rights NGO reports, it is a cynical discriminatory act to “eliminate technical barriers to trade” that will make the European market more accessible to Israel, while Israel creates impossible barriers for Palestinian trade. 

 
Israel’s double standard towards the Palestinian population within its entity and in the occupied territories amounts to apartheid. The economic profiteering from its system of discrimination is well documented on the website of the WhoProfits project. Specifically relevant is the project’s latest report about the pharmaceutical industry [3], which sheds light on Israel’s systematic crushing of Palestinian industries, and Israel’s forcing of its own products on a captive Palestinian market. 
 
We’d like to add to these factors the fact that Israel uses its powerful medical industry in order to counter Palestinian civil action asking for boycott of the industries that profit from the death of Palestinian civilians. Support for this billion-dollar industry, that is backed by military and state oppression, must stop, and must notbe strengthened. At a time when the EU should be conditioning ties with Israel based on its compliance with the internationally recognized human rights of the Palestinian people, it would be unethical to “strengthen relations”. 
 
We would like to conclude by explicitly rejecting the concept that the “ACAA is a purely technical agreement”. No economic agreement can be “purely technical”. It has a direct effect on people’s lives, and we hope that we’ve clearly outlined the effects of the ACAA on the lives of Palestinians. 

 
Sincerely,
BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within
 
 
 
 
 
[1] http://www.boycottisrael.info/
[2] http://www.bdsmovement.net/call
[3] http://www.whoprofits.org/content/captive-economy-pharmaceutical-industy-and-israeli-occupation