UPDATE
Shortly after the publication of this critique, The Independent corrected the photo caption, which now reads: “Workers pack apples at a factory in the Israeli Occupied Golan Heights.”
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The Independent reports that France is the first EU state to implement labeling of items from Israeli settlements. One can posit that The Independent is probably fully behind anything that singles out settlements.
So it is safe to assume that the illustrative photo in the story was not quite what the media outlet had in mind:
Firstly, the caption erroneously states that the Golan Heights “overlooks Israel’s controversial separation barrier.” This is geographically incorrect.
But the choice of photo itself is ironic. The Hebrew on the cardboard box in the foreground reads “Abu Jabal” and to the left, it is possible to make out that the location of the apple factory is Madjal Shams, a Druze Arab town on the Golan Heights.
Did The Independent mean to illustrate just how potentially damaging labeling or boycotting of settlement goods is for Arabs as well as Jews? Probably not.
We’ve requested a correction to the photo caption. Watch this space.
