The Dutch government said today that it will seek to tighten its law on discrimination to make it more difficult for the Arab boycott to be applied against Dutch firms The step was taken in response to a report by a parliamentary commission on the Arab boycott which said that Dutch firms were being hit with the boycott in virtually all phases of their transactions with Arab states.
At the same time, the government said it would not prevent companies from complying with the Arab economic boycott of Israel under which they declare their goods contain no Israel-manufactured components. The government also said it had no intention of preventing Dutch Chambers of Commerce from authenticating exported products as having no connection with Israel.
The parliamentary committee reported that same Dutch firms had issued declarations that the firms had no dealing with Israel and that employes being sent to Arab countries were not Jewish. The Israeli Information Center in The Hague said today that the Dutch government’s response to the request from Israel that it take measures against the boycott was “disappointing and incomplete.”
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