Psagot Winery, outside of Ramallah in the West Bank. (Photo: David Kattenburg)
In what might best be described as a “very cautious” decision (at least one Palestine-friendly lawyer considers it a victory), today (May 5), the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) dismissed the Trudeau government’s appeal of a lower court ruling that ‘Product of Israel’ labels on Israeli settlement wines are “false, misleading and deceptive,” all the while sending the labeling issue back to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for “reconsideration and redetermination.” This time, the FCA ruled, the CFIA must consult with both the original complainant (David Kattenburg) and the settlement winery operating on stolen Palestinian land, then base its reformulated decision on Canadian consumer protection statutes. Under pressure from the Trudeau government passionate defender of Israel’s right to do whatever it wants the CFIA may well dig deep for a reason to defend fal