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A Letter to eBay: Possible Unlawful Boycott of Israel and Alleged Discriminatory Price Gouging
StandWithUs, National Jewish Advocacy Center, and Zachor Legal Institute wrote to eBay, noting that eBay consumers have brought to our attention significant concerns regarding eBay’s business practices, including allegations that eBay may be discriminating against consumers trying to ship goods from the United States to Israel in violation of anti-boycott laws and international treaties. We requested that eBay provide clarification, investigate the allegations set forth in the letter, and initiate relevant remedial action.
April 15, 2024
Jamie Iannone,
CEO of eBay
Via Email: jamie@ebay.com
Re: Possible Unlawful Boycott of Israel and Alleged Discriminatory Price Gouging
Dear Mr. Iannone,
We write to you from StandWithUs, an international, non-profit organization with the mission of supporting Israel and combating antisemitism; National Jewish Advocacy Center, a nonprofit organization committed to our mission to advocate for the Jewish nation and the Jewish State; and Zachor Legal Institute, a non-profit civil rights organization combating antisemitism.
eBay consumers have brought to our attention significant concerns regarding eBay’s business practices, including allegations that eBay may be discriminating against consumers trying to ship goods from the United States to Israel in violation of anti-boycott laws and international treaties. We request that you provide clarification, investigate the allegations set forth below, and initiate relevant remedial action.
First, eBay customers have notified us of multiple discrepancies in eBay’s activities regarding trade to Israel as compared to other foreign countries since October 7, 2023, when thousands of Palestinian terrorists and armed citizens led by Hamas slaughtered more than a thousand civilians in Israel and took over 200 hostages into Gaza. Starting on October 7 until a recent date, eBay blocked Israel as a shipping destination. Accordingly, sales could not be processed when the final address selected was Israel. The following homepage notification was displayed:
Expect interruptions to Israel service. Listings temporarily no longer show shipping availability. Due to the current events, many major shipping carriers around the world are experiencing interruptions in service to Israel. As a result, many eBay listings will no longer show shipping availability temporarily to buyers with shipping addresses in Israel.
Further, when a merchant offering an item with worldwide availability was based in the United States, where eBay’s in-house, default service option “eBay International Shipping” is used, consumers requesting Israel as the final destination received the message:
Unfortunately, shipping to your location is not available at this time.
This did not appear to be the case when the merchant was based outside of the United States, for example in Germany, Canada, Australia, or the United Kingdom, where the same or similar item for purchase was able to successfully deliver to Israel via a different non-eBay administered service. And from our understanding, major international shipment companies and rival e- commerce sites, like USPS, Amazon, and Ali Express, have never blocked service to Israel and have only faced minimal delays, if any.
In short, it appears that eBay’s US-based operations — and not in other countries — have been refusing to ship items to Israel, while simultaneously engaging in trade with other countries, possibly participating in a boycott in violation of US law. Our understanding is that within the last few weeks, eBay has since lifted this complete ban, however a standardized message that there may be delays in shipping still appears for those with Israel set as the destination.
Furthermore, consumers requesting Israel as a shipping destination are facing sky-high shipping and handling costs (“costs”) from the same “eBay International Shipping” service that no other country appears to be subject to. From our analysis, these costs — irrespective of and not proportional to the cost of the product itself — seem to be consistently in the $60-70 range, which is two to three times greater than when selecting any other applicable country destination. When shipping service options “Standard International Shipping” or “USPS” are available, the costs for delivering the same items are significantly less than eBay’s own shipping service. When shipping originates from a non-US location, the costs do not seem to vary significantly based on destination.
As you may be aware, anti-Israel boycotts not only violate numerous Federal anti-boycott laws, but also legislation in over 30 US states, many of which house your offices, employees, and interstate business operations. The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security defines the term “boycott” as referring “to economic coercion associated with such tactics as refusing to engage in business transactions or conditioning business transactions on agreements that a party will not do business with another party or country.”
The past six months of eBay’s refusal to service consumers in Israel from the US. at all or on terms equal to other countries likely constituted such a boycott, regardless of if one has been publicly declared. And now, whether eBay is intentionally acting in furtherance of the same perceived boycott tactic or is merely using price gouging as a means to “legally” dissuade customers from engaging with Israel, this discriminatory conduct is potentially in violation of the same set of laws. This extant practice requires immediate clarification.
We therefore request that you investigate this alleged non-compliance and engage in a thorough and transparent review of your policies to ensure adherence to Federal and state anti-boycott legislation and regulations. Thank you for your prompt attention to this timely and critical matter. We look forward to a response to this letter by April 30, 2024.
Sincerely,
Roz Rothstein Marc Greendorfer Mark Goldfeder
CEO and Co-Founder President CEO and Director
StandWithUs Zachor Legal Institute National Jewish Advocacy Center
The post A Letter to eBay: Possible Unlawful Boycott of Israel and Alleged Discriminatory Price Gouging first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Who Is the Biggest Bastard?’ Belgian Politician Equates Israel With Hamas After Refusing Jewish New Year Greeting

Matthias Diependaele, Minister‑President of Flanders, has faced backlash after declining to send a Rosh Hashanah message to Belgium’s Jewish community. Photo: Screenshot
A senior Belgian politician who recently refused to send a Jewish New Year message has once again sparked outrage for equating Israel with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Matthias Diependaele, Minister‑President of Flanders — the Dutch-speaking region in northern Belgium — was speaking before the Flemish Parliament on Tuesday when he argued the world’s lone Jewish state and only democracy in the Middle East was no better morally than an international designated terrorist group.
“How do you explain who is the biggest bastard?” he asked. “On the one hand, you have an innovative, modern country that should be based on Western standards, but uses disproportionate force and commits human rights violations without any compassion. On the other hand, you see a terrorist organization that doesn’t hesitate to hide behind a human shield. Who is the bigger bastard? The one who shoots at children? Or the one who uses them as a human shield? I don’t know. I choose the innocent victims, and I want to think about how best to help them.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the ongoing war with their invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages while perpetrating widespread sexual violence. In response, Israel has waged a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths during its war effort to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israeli miitary.
Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
Diependaele belongs to the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the same center-right party led by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. His parliamentary remarks prompted immediate backlash.
“The Flemish Alliance has completely surrendered to leftist pressure and no longer has a moral compass. He compares a free society and democratic state, existentially threatened, to a gang of murderous Muslim terrorists,” said Sam van Rooy, a lawmaker from the right-wing Vlaams Belang party, according to multiple reports. “This is why I continue responding to the anti-Israeli debate, constantly fed by leftist parties and traditional parties — it causes masks to fall. Israel is a litmus test. Now we know that, unfortunately, Flanders is controlled by a prime minister who cannot distinguish between good and evil.”
Diependaele has even received criticism from other members of Belgium’s five-party federal government coalition.
Sammy Mahdi, head of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V), described the remarks in an Instagram post as “shameful” and indicative of “a lack of common sense.”
CD&V and Vooruit, another political party in the coalition, said on Wednesday that Diependaele was not speaking on behalf of the government, according to Belgian media.
Diependaele’s comments came after he declined a request last week by the Belgian Jewish newspaper The Centrale to provide a Rosh Hashanah message. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, will take place in late September this year.
“After internal deliberation, we regret to inform you that, given the current situation and sensitivities concerning the tensions in the Middle East, we cannot follow up on your request,” the statement from Diependaele’s office read.
“Anything that bears even the slightest connection to this conflict is being closely monitored and examined under a magnifying glass. For that reason, we do not deem it opportune to go into this any further,” it continued.
According to the Jewish newspaper, requesting a Rosh Hashanah greeting from Belgium’s leaders for the country’s Jewish citizens has been a long-standing tradition.
“This year, even that became radioactive,” The Centrale wrote.
Shortly after the newspaper published Diependaele’s response, which drew widespread outrage from Belgium’s Jewish community, the politician rejected claims of antisemitism and attempted to defend his earlier statement.
“My refusal is purely based on the principle that, for more than 15 years in my role as a representative of the people, I have not supported religious activities,” Diependaele wrote in a new letter sent to The Centrale.
“I have also never accepted invitations for the Eid. I have also never taken part in a Te Deum for Catholics,” the Flemsih leader continued. “By this I am in no way passing judgment on any religion or on the people who practice it. It is, however, my conviction that no religion — including my own — has any role to play in the exercise of my mandate.”
However, the paper rejected Diependaele’s new letter, arguing that his shift from “too sensitive right now” to a “timeless principle” was an attempt to mask his initial fear of public backlash.
The World Jewish Congress denounced Diependaele’s actions as a clear act of antisemitism.
“Holding Jews in the Diaspora collectively accountable for the actions of Israel – is antisemitic. To be a political leader, and to refuse to acknowledge the traditions and culture of your country’s Jewish community – because of Israel – is antisemitic,” the organization said in a statement. “What transpired is quite clear: A political leader declined to acknowledge their Jewish citizens because of Israel and the perceived public backlash about engaging with Jews.”
While members of the Belgian government have been pushing for a tougher stance against Israel amid the Gaza war, the country has been less critical of the Israeli military campaign in recent months than other European countries.
In late April, for example, De Wever rejected a journalist’s claim that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza and argued it is premature to recognize a “Palestinian state.”
Weeks earlier, Belgium announced it would not enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, should he visit Brussels.
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Palestinian Activist Ahed Tamimi Says ‘We Are Fighting the Jews, Not Zionism’

Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi attends the annual festival of Greek Communist Youth in Athens, Greece, Sept. 22, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Costas Baltas
Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi said on a podcast earlier this month that she is fighting Jews, not Zionism, and that she wishes for World War III.
“I was raised [to believe] that Judaism means occupation, and today, tomorrow, and a million years from now, I will continue to say that Judaism [should] be presented to the children of Palestine – children of my age and younger – as occupation, and that we are fighting the Jews, not Zionism,” Tamimi, now 24, said on “The Enlightenment Podcast” on YouTube on Aug. 8.
Tamimi’s comments were flagged by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which reported on and translated her remarks.
Palestinian Activist Ahed Tamimi: We Are Fighting the Jews, Not Just Zionism; Westerners Patronize Us with Their Aid, They should Shut Up When We Talk; They Will Give Us Aid, Whether They Like It Or Not, and We Will Not Thank Them; I Wish for a Nuclear WWIII, So the Whole World… pic.twitter.com/NNn5Jf7TD6
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) August 15, 2025
“The whole world needs to shut up, when a Palestinian is talking,” she said. “We are superior to the entire world, because we are the only ones in the world fighting injustice, at the expense of our lives, and the expense of our humanity.”
Tamimi continued, “Every night when I go to sleep, I put my head on the pillow, and I pray to God to protect the humanity left inside me, because I don’t want to become a killer. In this West of yours, if a mother screams at her child, he grows up to become a serial killer.”
“I have reached a point where I wish for a World War III. Whoever dies, dies, and whoever lives, lives. The important thing is that we will be over with this. I have reached this point,” she said. “Let the whole world be destroyed, I don’t care. Let them drop nuclear bombs, and destroy the whole world, so it won’t be just the Palestinians.”
These recent comments are the most recent in a long string of radical remarks by Tamimi. In November 2023, she wrote, in an Instagram post, “Come on settlers, we are waiting for you in all the West Bank cities from Hebron to Jenin – we will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke.”
Speaking about Israelis who live in the West Bank, she said, “We will drink your blood and eat your skull. Come on, we are waiting for you.”
Tamimi became famous internationally in 2017 when a video of her, then just 16 years old, slapping, kicking, and yelling at Israeli soldiers went viral as a symbol of both Palestinian resistance to Israel, and the asymmetric nature of the conflict. The soldiers did not retaliate but did later arrest her.
Tamimi was convicted on four counts of assaulting an IDF officer and soldier, incitement, and interference with IDF forces in March 2018, and was sentenced to eight months in prison and eight months of probation.
She was released a few months later, in July 2018. Since then, Tamimi has been hailed as a Palestinian human rights activist, received a book deal from Penguin Random House, and consistently received sympathetic coverage from Western news outlets.
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Trump Administration Reaffirms Opposition to Turkey Rejoining F-35 Program

A Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft is seen at the ILA Air Show in Berlin, Germany, April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt
The Trump administration has reaffirmed its opposition to Turkey’s rejoining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, citing Ankara’s possession of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.
In a letter sent on Wednesday to US Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), a senior State Department official reiterated that Washington remains committed to enforcing the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which penalizes countries with financial ties to Russia’s defense sector.
“The Trump administration is fully committed to protecting US defense and intelligence assets and complying with US law, including CAATSA,” the letter read
The message, signed by Paul Guaglianone of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, stated that Washington’s position “has not changed” and that Turkey’s continued possession of the Russian-supplied S-400 remains incompatible with US law and defense requirements. The official stressed that the Trump administration was fully committed to protecting American defense and intelligence assets while maintaining its obligations under the National Defense Authorization Act.
Despite the strained relationship, the letter emphasized that Turkey remains a longstanding NATO ally. US officials framed the relationship as critical to the security interests of both countries and signaled a willingness to maintain dialogue with Ankara.
In 2017, despite several US warnings, Ankara purchased the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, leading to Turkey’s expulsion from the multibillion-dollar fighter jet program in 2019.
“The United States seeks to cooperate with Turkey on common priorities and to engage in dialogue to resolve disagreements,” Guaglianone wrote, while maintaining that Washington has “expressed our disapproval of Ankara’s acquisition of the S-400 and clearly conveyed steps that would need to be taken” in the sanctions review process.
The letter came after a bipartisan coalition of more than 40 US lawmakers pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month to prevent Turkey from rejoining the F-35 program, citing ongoing national security concerns and violations of US law. Members of Congress warned that lifting existing sanctions or readmitting Turkey to the US F-35 fifth-generation fighter program would “jeopardize the integrity of F-35 systems” and risk exposing sensitive US military technology to Russia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed during a NATO summit in June that Ankara and Washington had begun discussing Turkey’s readmission into the program.
Under Section 1245 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagon is prohibited from transferring F-35 jets or related technology to Turkey unless Ankara no longer possesses the Russian-made S-400 system and provides assurances it will not acquire such equipment in the future. Because Turkey continues to retain the S-400, US officials are legally barred from approving its participation in the F-35 program.