Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Iceland Government Backs Away From Capital City’s Israel Boycott

The national government of Iceland said it does not support a decision by Reykjavik, its capital city, to boycott Israeli products.

Iceland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the resolution approved by the City Council of Reykjavik earlier this week is “not in line” with its foreign policy, the Times of Israel reported. The symbolic resolution calls for a boycott of Israeli goods and condemns Israel’s “policy of apartheid.”

The foreign ministry also said the resolution also does not reflect on Iceland’s relations with the State of Israel, a spokesman said in an email to the Israeli news site.

In 2013 through this year, Iceland’s imports from Israel totaled roughly $6 million, mostly machinery and Dead Sea chemicals, according to the Times of Israel.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Reykjavik resolution.

“For no reason or justification, except hatred for its own sake, calls of boycotting the state of Israel are heard,” its statement said. “We hope someone in Iceland will come to their senses and end the one-sided blindness fielded against Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.