Mercator Center. Photo: Wikipedia.

JNS.org – The largest Slovenian supermarket chain, Mercator, has reneged on its earlier decision to remove Israeli products from its shelves, a move that had come in response to pressure from the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Prior to the latest decision, Shmuel Meirom, Israel’s ambassador to Slovenia, was planning to visit Slovenia’s Foreign Ministry to protest the original decision and to try to convince the CEO of the supermarket chain against the boycott. But Mercator decided to reorder Israeli goods in response to public outcry.

This was the second time the supermarket chain removed Israeli products of its shelves, only to bring them back later. The first incident occurred in 2014.

“There is no Slovenian boycott on Israeli products. The agreements between the European Union and Israel are the basis of Israel’s special status in its relations with Slovenia as well. The government of Slovenia has not held stocks in Mercator since 2014. The ties between Israel and Slovenia have always been good and are characterized by vast cooperation, mostly in the fields of economics, science, research, advanced technologies, and tourism,” the Slovenian Embassy in Israel said in a statement, reported Yedioth Ahronoth.