[ChristianScienceMonitor] For years, boycott efforts in Europe seemed to be only symbolic gestures. But several major efforts announced in the past year, including one by the EU, are raising alarm.The campaign is starting to bite. Last year, Jordan Valley farmers lost an estimated $29 million, or 14 percent of revenue, because they were forced to find alternative markets for their exports, such as Russia, where prices are 20 to 60 percent lower. Pepper exports to Western Europe have stopped completely, and grape exports are likely to be phased out this year because of consumer pressure, says David Elhayani, mayor of the Jordan Valley Regional Council and a farmer himself.
It's not so much that their pocketbook is starting to feel the pressure -- last year's drop in Jordan Valley exports represents a mere 0.01 percent of total Israeli exports for 2013. But there's concern that rising opposition to Israeli policies signals increasing displeasure with the very idea of Israel. "Sanctions are also what we Israelis should fear most -- disenchantment of the world with the very idea that Jews are entitled to have a state of their own," says Yitzchak Mayer, who served as the Israeli ambassador to Belgium and Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
in the 1990s.