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Netanyahu hits out at boycott warning

Ministers shrug off Kerry's advice to seize on peace talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off warnings by US Secretary of State John Kerry that a boycott movement would grow should peace talks with the Palestinians fail.

Mr Netanyahu called boycott efforts "immoral and unjust," asserting that they would "not achieve their goal."

Economics Minister Naftali Bennett went further and lashed out furiously at Mr Kerry, branding him an "amplifier" for "anti-semitic boycott efforts."

Mr Bennett's pro-settler Jewish Home party has been a fierce critic of the peace talks.

Mr Netanyahu is negotiating against a backdrop of increasing international pressure to reach a deal and a growing call to boycott Israel.

At a security conference in Germany at the weekend, Mr Kerry warned a breakdown in Israeli-Palestinian talks would accelerate the trend.

"Today's status quo absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100 per cent, cannot be maintained. It's not sustainable. It's illusionary. There's a momentary prosperity, there's a momentary peace," Mr Kerry said.

Mr Bennett retorted that "advice-givers" should know that Israel would not abandon its land because of economic threats.

"We expect our friends around the world to stand beside us, against anti-semitic boycott efforts targeting Israel, and not to be their amplifier," he said.

But Israeli chief negotiator Tzipi Livni jumped to Mr Kerry's defence, saying he was merely expressing concern for Israel's future.

European officials have warned that Israel could face deepening economic isolation if it presses ahead with the construction of more settlements.

In the latest example, Denmark's largest bank Danske Bank blacklisted Israel's Bank Hapoalim because of its links to settlement construction.

Once dismissed as a fringe issue, the boycott is increasingly taking centre stage in Israeli public debate.

Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid recently admitted that even in the case of a limited boycott, the damage could amount to about 20 billion shekels (£3.5 billion) in annual exports.

Mr Lapid recently ordered all payments to settlements stopped until their use was clarified, following a TV report which claimed that funds were being illegally transferred to the Yesha Council - an umbrella group of settlers that was illicitly using the money for political purposes.

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