Amnesty International calls for arms-trade boycott of Israel over West Bank events
Amnesty International said it has called for an arms-trade boycott of Israel over what it described as a rising level of violence in the occupied West Bank. Al Jazeera reported that the call was directed at UN member states. Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the call.
Al Jazeera reported that Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said in a briefing "we are calling on UN member states to halt arms sales and to suspend existing contracts". The organisation cited recent incidents recorded in the occupied West Bank as the basis of the request.
Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said "the call disregards the security reality on the ground". Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmad Deek said it backed the call and asked for international judicial mechanisms to be engaged.
International human-rights lawyers are compiling weekly responses in the West Bank monitoring file; the EU's diplomatic service brought the file to a monitoring committee meeting in Brussels. JPMorgan ME strategist Cohen wrote that "a political sanctions framework typically shows up as a risk premium in capital markets". This is not investment advice.
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