Reykjavík Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson has announced the proposal boycotting Israeli products will be rescinded and revised.
Dagur said that the proposal was not well thought-out, RÚV reports, and will therefore be rescinded for revision. A new version of the proposal will then be submitted that specifies that Reykjavík City Hall will not buy Israeli goods that were manufactured in occupied Palestinian territories.
“Yes, I’ve said that [the proposal] could have been much clearer in the text although the thought was there,” he said. “I will submit to city council that the proposal as it is written now be rescinded while we discuss the next steps and the next version.”
As reported, the initial proposal – which barred City Hall from buying any products from Israel – was met with harsh criticism and even threats of legal action, both from within Iceland and abroad.
Dagur initially defended the proposal, saying that it was in harmony with the “environmental and human rights” policy of the city.
“I have noticed this has been called an embargo, which it isn’t, and is a testament to anti-Semitism, which is of course ridiculous,” he wrote in a statement to the press. “Reykjavík is a city of human rights. We have protested against China’s infringements on freedom of expression and the government’s oppression of dissenters, we have protested against the Russian government’s treatment of homosexuals and their allies by cutting ties with Moscow. The approved proposal from Tuesday is the logical extension of this.”
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