U.S. firm fined for abiding by Arab boycott

The U.S. Department of Commerce fined a toolmaker for illegally complying with an Arab boycott of Israel. Cooper Tools Industrial Ltd. was ordered to pay $27,000 in fines last week after company officials allegedly “furnished 15 items of prohibited information about business relationships with Israel to persons in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates,” a Department of Commerce statement said. Arab states participating in the boycott ask companies to certify that their products were not manufactured in Israel, do not contain Israeli-made parts and that the companies do not do business with Israel. Compliance with these demands is against U.S. law.”The Department of Commerce stands firm in its policy of opposing restrictive trade practices or boycotts against Israel,” said Darryl Jackson, assistant U.S. secretary of commerce for export enforcement. Cooper Tools has fully cooperated with the investigation and voluntarily disclosed its transactions.