Product labels claim to reveal where something comes from and what it contains. But when they lie, what realities ferment?

Although Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land are not recognized as part of Israel under international law, current U.S. Customs policy requires products made in these settlements to be labeled “Made in Israel.” Labeling the Lie is a counter-advertisement campaign and public service announcment that exposes how wine produced on stolen land can legally enter U.S. markets and mislead consumers. The campaign begins with the Pompeo Special Edition 2020—a bottle created to honor former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s unprecedented visit to Psagot Winery, located within an Israeli settlement. Psagot markets this and other wines as a “Product of Israel,” a misleading claim given that their production takes place within occupied Palestine.

The French term terroir refers to how soil, climate, and geography shape a wine’s taste. Here, it is repurposed to conceal dispossession, turning occupation itself into a flavor note.

At the center of this campaign is this website—an interactive space where you can explore annotated wine bottles through a cursor that magnifies obscured layers of text and imagery. Our website guides a process of close looking, tracing recurring patterns: claims of indigeneity and heritage, fabricated archaeology used to assert territorial legitimacy, biblical branding strategies that normalize settler expansion, and spiritual language that conceals systems of apartheid, militarization, and displacement. This research began with import–export systems and expanded into a deeper examination of the cultural and political narratives these bottles carry.

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Each act of re-labeling within our campaign adds missing information that the original leaves out—where the product really comes from, the fact that the settlement is illegal under international law, and how Palestinian communities have been displaced. This act of close looking reveals how global trade hides and sustains occupation. The U.S. continues to permit products from these settlements to enter its markets as if they were made in Israel, granting them unfair tariff advantages under the U.S.–Israel Free Trade Agreement—even though such settlements are not recognized as part of Israel under international law.

A central focus of our research is H.R. 5179—the Anti-BDS Labeling Act—introduced by Representative Claudia Tenney (R–NY). The bill seeks to make permanent a U.S. policy that allows goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestine to be labeled “Made in Israel.” The bill passed the House on September 18, 2024, and is now under review by the Senate Finance Committee, with no hearings or votes yet scheduled.

International standards known as Geographical Indications exist to protect truth in labeling—ensuring that products honestly reflect their place of origin and the qualities tied to it. These standards are overseen by global organizations such as the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization, yet neither has directly addressed the false labeling of Israeli settlement goods in occupied Palestine. Some governments, however, have taken a clear stand. In 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that wines from Israeli settlements cannot be labeled “Made in Israel,” finding that such labeling misleads consumers. That same year in Canada, a federal judge reached a similar conclusion, writing that because settlements are not part of the State of Israel, labeling their wines as “Made in Israel” is inaccurate.

In the labeling of Israeli settlement goods, U.S. trade policy stands in direct opposition with international human rights law. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argued that businesses in Israeli settlements “operate within the economic and administrative framework of Israel,” and that their exports should therefore be labeled and traded as “Israeli.” Meanwhile, Palestinian-made items—produced under occupation—must be labeled separately as originating from the “West Bank” or “Gaza,” reinforcing systems of division and inequality in global trade. This policy manufactures and normalizes systems of apartheid, disguised as economic regulation.

It is important to note that while our focus centers on wines from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, similar issues occur elsewhere. Wineries like Recanati operate in the illegally occupied Golan Heights, and others such as Teperberg 1870—based within Israel’s recognized borders—source grapes from illegal Israeli settlements within occupied Palestine.

This campaign is a tool for seeing wine as a political artifact of land. Take Drimia Winery, for example. The company presents itself as a symbol of faith and renewal, yet its story reveals how deeply winemaking is entangled with militarization. Its lead winemaker was called to military duty in Gaza, a fact highlighted in marketing materials alongside language of spiritual “return.” In one social media post, Drimia even wonders whether the dust and debris from bombs during that summer’s conflict with Iran might influence the taste of its wine. What’s framed as poetic reflection instead turns violence into terroir—transforming war into a flavor note. These wines are not just mislabeled commodities; they are liquid dispossession, bottled and exported for global consumption.

It is illogical that a bottle produced in an Israeli settlement built on occupied Palestinian land can be shipped to a home in the U.S., yet still carry the label “Made in Israel.”

Labeling the Lie offers a tool for awareness and action. We invite you to explore the re-labels to uncover the truth and urge your senators to oppose H.R. 5179. Close looking and education, we believe, is a powerful form of resistance.