IRAQ STEPS UP ANTI-ISRAEL BOYCOTT

Iraq steps up anti-Israel boycott. (JPost)
The US-backed Iraqi government is enforcing the Arab boycott of Israel with increasing frequency, The Jerusalem Post has learned, with the number of boycott-related incidents involving US firms operating in Iraq nearly quadrupling last year, according to official US statistics.

In its recently released annual report for 2006, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security noted that there had been 31 cases in which the Iraqi government had engaged in restrictive trade practices last year.

In 2005, according to the previous year’s report, there were a total of just eight such cases involving Iraq.

US law bars American firms from complying with boycott-related requests and requires them to report any such incidents to the authorities. These might include demands made of companies to verify that their products do not contain components made in the Jewish state or signing forms attesting that they do not do business with Israel.

The most recent edition of the Business Guide for Iraq, a handbook that was published by the US Commerce Department last year, cautions American businessmen regarding Iraq’s participation in the anti-Israel boycott.

“Currently, some US companies are reporting requests from Iraq for adherence to the Arab League boycott of Israel,” says the guide, noting that, “compliance with such requests may be prohibited by the Export Administration Regulations.”