Every Ramadan Israel floods the European markets with dates, which enrich its economy thereby helping it continue its oppression of the Palestinian people. Many Muslims are unaware of this and unwittingly purchase Israeli dates, thereby supporting the Israeli economy and it’s occupation of the Palestinian people. Every Ramadan the boycott of Israeli blood dates grows stronger and stronger.
Leeds PSC campaigners were out today (August 14) leafleting grocery shops in the Harehills area of Leeds. The aim was to make sure the shops are not selling Israeli dates and to make them aware of the dates boycott.
Dates are Israel’s leading fruit export and boycotting them will hit them where it hurts, their pockets. Whoever buys these blood dates has Palestinian blood on their hands. The difficulty for the consumers lies with the labelling. They’re also cheaper and widely available compared with genuine Palestinian dates.
In general the smaller shops seems to heed the message and are more supportive of the boycott, many did not stock any Israeli dates. We visited the shop that promised to remove the Israeli dates last week. We were glad to see them keeping their promise.
The same cannot be said of the larger stores. One shop (shop “A”) had several large red boxes with small white stickers on them saying “Produce of Israel, Agrexco”. When we pointed this out to the shop keeper, his mood changed sour and said the manager is not in. But he did let us take a photo of the offending boxes.
In another large store, a young Muslim brother was at the counter. We pointed out some smaller boxes labelled “River Jordan – Kalahari dates, Produce of South Africa”. He smiled and said they’re already boycotting Israeli dates and shoppers have made them aware that these dates may also be of Israeli origin, and sent to South Africa for packaging so that they bypass EU labelling regulations.
In another shop, boxes of Israeli dates had been removed and sent back to the wholesaler. We did spot some unbranded Israeli dates and raised it with them.
Last week a popular shop (Shop “B”) promised us they do not sell Israeli dates. This week we had a look inside, going past the usual dates section. We were shocked to discover several red boxes of Israeli dates in between the aisles. But the intriguing thing is that the small sticker stating they are from Israel has been ripped off the boxes! When we approached a manager, two assistants came and swiftly removed them from our sight! We felt like the “Halal” dates inspectors! The staff must be aware of what they were selling. This shop is deceiving its customers by concealing the fact that these dates are from Israel. This is not lawful (Halal)! We asked if they knew why the label was removed (the expression on their faces gave away the answer)? How can they behave like this, especially during Ramadan, when their customers are fasting? What happened to thinking about people less well off than ourselves during this holy month?
WHAT CONSUMERS SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR:
- Avoid large red boxes of “Natural Dates Medjoul” (see photo), these do not state where the dates are produced, but some have “Produce of Israel” stickers on them. I guess they’re fulfilling some labelling law with the stickers.
- Avoid “Jordan River” Kalahari dates, even if it says “Karsten Farms – Produce of South Africa”. It is still the same Israeli Jordan River company. Who knows where the dates were grown? Read the article: Killer-Hari Blood Dates.
- Avoid unbranded dates labelled simply as Jordan River dates.
- If in doubt, leave it out! Buy clearly labelled dates instead. You can buy genuine Palestinian Medjoul dates from Zaytoun.
- Visit Check The Label website form more information.
The price is another problem. The Israeli dates have been grown on government subsidy on stolen Palestinian land and mass exported via established routes into the UK. The Palestinian date growers cannot compete with this hence the higher prices. This price difference is what brings the Israeli dates to our local shops.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
We will continue to do spot checks on these shops to see if they have removed the Israeli blood soaked dates and kept their promise.
We urge shoppers to visit their local shops and demand that these dates are removed from their shelves asap.
Article written by Leeds PSC
Also featured on Northern Indymedia
Start of Campaign (August 10):
Members of Leeds PSC received a good responce from local shop keepers in the Harehills area of Leeds – most of whom are already boycotting Israeli dates – in solidarity with Palestinians. The shop keeper in the one shop where Israeli dates were found on sale is very pro Palestine and simply did not know that the dates were Israeli. He said that he was not going to buy them again. Interestingly, these dates were in a box that did not carry a brand name and had a sticker less than 1 square cm, stating it was produce of Israel – obviously who ever produced them is not trying to publicise the country of origin.
We also had a postive responce from members of a local mosque that we passed on the way, who took leaflets to put in the mosque.
Update (August 22):
On Monday, Leeds PSC dates inspectors made the third visit to shops in Harehills. We are glad to report that we did not find the Israeli dates in shop “B” where the ‘country of origin sticker’ had previously been ripped off the boxes. We again visited shop “A” where the manager had been absent on our last visit. Again, the same staff said the manager is not in.
On Saturday August 21 Leeds PSC had a stall at the Unity Day festival in Hyde Park, then with our “Free Palestine” badges and boycott leaflets we headed out to visit the local shops. Once more, we found that the smaller shops were less likely to be selling Israeli dates and were more willing to discuss the dates boycott.
Larger stores were more likely to be culprits selling Israeli dates. One of them was selling dates with confusing labelling. The box stated “King Solomon Dates”, “Jordan River International” and “Produce of South Africa”. These are Israeli brand/companies. When we approached the manager, the poor guy was taken by surprise by our interest in his dates while we explained who we were! We pointed out the Israeli dates and gave him a list of Israeli dates brands and logos. Some of the customers were intrigued at the sight of us taking photos.
In another large store, we found boxes of medjoul dates labelled as from California, USA. When we approached the manager to congratulate him for not selling Israeli dates, we were shocked to hear him say, he and his wholesaler believes these are also from Israel but packaged in USA. He was very amicable and said he also stocks Palestinian produce and would be happy to sell Zaytoun Palestinian medjoul dates.
Boycott of Israeli blood dates is being felt in Israel. This is evident by the fact that boxes are mis-labelled, not labelled at all or being exported for processing in other countries. We question why majority of medjoul dates we came across were marked as “Produce of South Africa” yet with Israeli brand names? Why do the majority of medjoul dates boxes look so similar, even though they have different Israeli brand logos? We wonder if this is because these Israeli dates companies belong to Hadiklaim – the Israeli dates growers cooperative?
ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN:
The clever Israeli mislabelling is confusing to us, never mind ordinary shoppers. We have several options now. We could lodge a formal complaint to Trading Standards about the ambiguous labelling of these dates and also how some shops are concealing the origin of produce in order to mislead consumers. We could also consider naming and shaming the shops. The culprits may heed the message once shoppers put pressure on them or even boycott their shops entirely until they remove all Israeli blood dates.
Don’t be a sucker for a cheap date! (Update August 28):
This week Leeds PSC was out and about again reminding shopkeepers and customers about the difficulties in identifying Israeli dates. Visiting small and large shops in the Chapeltown, Beeston and Harehills areas, Leeds PSC found most of the small shops selling small packs of Tunisian and Saudi dates and aware of the boycott of Israeli goods. Some shops that had previously Israeli dates had now stopped stocking these. Unfortunately some of the larger stores and some small shops persist in stocking Jordan Valley and Jordan River dates.
When asked, some staff said these weren’t from Israel, but from Jordan. It seems they had been misinformed by the wholesalers who told them the Jordan Valley is in Jordan, and not the fertile valley illegally occupied by Israel to the west of the river. As a result some of the customers we spoke to had also been given wrong information about where the Jordan Valley is (map)
Jordan Valley Map
Abassin Supermarket (229 Harehills Lane, diagonally opposite from the Mosque) was fully aware of their Israeli dates however. If you are a regular customer at this shop or another where you find Jordan Valley, Jordan River or King Soloman dates, please express you concern about their choice of suppliers and take your custom elsewhere.
Abassin Supermarket (229 Harehills Lane, diagonally opposite from the Mosque)
We also found Carmel Agrexco mangoes being sold in CC Continental (on Easterley Road, 0113 262 3728) mislabelled as Brazilian.
CC Continental (on Easterley Road, 0113 262 3728)
In both cases, these shops are in breach of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and Food Labelling Regulations 1996. The Food Labelling Directive (2000/13/EC) states that the labelling used must not be such as could mislead a purchaser on a number of issues including origin or provenance. Similarly the Food Safety Act 1990 makes it an offence to display any food which falsely describes the food.
Resources:
Partnership between South African and Israeli Agribusiness fuels Apartheid Article by Corporate Watch
“Supermarket manipulate Israeli dates”
Muslim shops ban Israeli produce in Palestine protest
Success as Pollokshields, Glasgow joins boycott of Israeli dates
Rochdale campaigners call for boycott of Israeli dates
SPSC – BOYCOTT ISRAEL GLASGOW 11/9/2010
Partnership between South African and Israeli Agribusiness fuels Apartheid
Many thanks for the very important information. The inspectors and the general public must continie to exercise pressure on the shop keepeers / sellers of these dates. Must continue to educate the muslims and non muslims alike.
I have been fortunate recently to visit Jerusalem / Bait ul Mukadus and pray in Masjid Al Aqsa. The plights of the palestinians are desperate. We must do every thing not to help the economy of Israel.
Carry on with the good works. May Allah swt rewards you.
Carry on with the good works. Lets not help the israeli economy. Continue to educate and put pressure on the sellers.
May aAllah swt reward you for your efforts
“Supermarket manipulate Israeli dates”
http://www.at5.nl/artikelen/47034/dadels
see video here http://www.zie.nl/video/ingezonden/Supermarkt-sjoemelt-met-Israelische-dadels/m1fzm15ffvg5
Google translation!
“The man basically boycott products from Israel, so are the dates Royal Delight King Solomon Medjoul Dates.
His surprise was great when he was two weeks ago suddenly saw that the package dates are from South Africa would come. That information appears to be incorrect, the barcode on the product begins with the numbers ie 792. This is the country code for Israel’s. The dates are marketed by the company Hadiklaim from Israel. Because they confirm that the dates do not come from South Africa.
Dirk van den Broek was unavailable for comment.”
BOYCOTT ISRAELI DATES
http://www.inminds.com/boycott-israeli-dates.php
Innovative Minds and the Islamic Human Rights Commission are calling on campaigners to create awareness in their communities about the boycott of Israeli goods, and in particular Israeli dates, this Ramadan.
sample letter to give to local grocery shops, greengrocers, etc
Dear Shopkeeper,
Greeting of peace,
Please spare a few minutes to read this important letter, thank you.
As a customer of yours I wish to draw your attention to something which is very dear to my heart and I am sure to many of your other customers and hopefully to yours as well, namely the plight of the Palestinian people.
For 60 years now they have lived under brutal Israeli occupation, their land stolen from them, their homes demolished and their children murdered in front of their eyes. The United Nations has condemned Israel on many, many occasions, and the International Court of Justice has ruled the Israeli settlements are illegal – built on stolen Palestinian land, and those that lived through the horror of apartheid in South Africa have described Israel as practising a much worse form of apartheid than thing they suffered under. And yet despite all this, the oppression continues, nothing changes.
It is now left for us ordinary people to put pressure on Israel by boycotting its goods, by boycotting the fruits and vegetables it grows on land stolen from the Palestinians. It is in this endeavour that I humbly urge you, as your customer, please do not help oppress the Palestinians by selling Israeli goods, in particular please do not sell Israeli dates this Ramadan. Every year just before Ramadan, Israel especially targets small retailers who serve the Muslim community in to stocking its dates. The included leaflet lists which brands of dates are Israeli and should be avoided, it also includes details of the suffering Palestinians undergo in the production of these dates. This Ramadan please think of the Palestinians.
Thank you
sign name and include street & town
sign name and include street & town
sign name and include street & town
sign name and include street & town
sign name and include street & town
PS As your customers, we will be frequenting your store, please do not disappoint – thank you
Muslim shops ban Israeli produce in Palestine protest
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/muslim-shops-ban-israeli-produce-in-palestine-protest-1.1051191
Asian shopkeepers in one of the biggest Muslim areas in Scotland are backing a boycott of Israeli produce.
In a move that has worried Jewish groups, Muslim families who own stores in Glasgow’s south side are refusing to stock Israeli goods in protest at Israel’s West Bank settlements and policy towards Palestinians.
Around 30 stores in Muslim communities in Pollokshields, Pollokshaws and Govanhill are supporting the drive and yesterday campaigners took to the streets to applaud shopkeepers who are no longer stocking Israeli products…….
Success as Pollokshields, Glasgow joins boycott of Israeli dates
http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3500:success-as-pollokshields-glasgow-joins-boycott-of-israeli-dates&catid=418:news&Itemid=200298
“In the month leading up to Ramadan SPSC Glasgow have combined the promoting of the Rod Cox/Gideon Levy event with joining Friends of al Aqsa in their campaign to urge Muslim shoppers and shopkeepers to boycott Israeli Medjoul dates, which are in fact produced in illegal settlements, particularly in the Jordan Valley.
Responding in Glasgow to the Palestinian appeal for boycott, Saturday 21 Aug 2010
Despite the almost overwhelmingly positive response from the Muslim community, Friends of Al Aqsa identified one shopowner in Pollokshields who was ignoring the calls to boycott. Pollokshields is one of the areas of Glasgow with a strong and proud Muslim community, established over many decades and with several large shops this store owner was setting a negative example that Friends of Al Aqsa felt could not go unchallenged. Several weeks ago Friends of Al Aqsa asked SPSC Glasgow to join a protest/picket outside the shop-owners’ flagship grocery store in Pollokshields, Strawberry & Spice Gardens, a request we readily accepted.”
“One shop-owner was mortified when we found Hadiklaim’s Jordan River dates under its’ new pseudonym ‘Kalahari Medjoul dates’ which are marked “product of South Africa” (this re-routing of produce is evidence of the success of BDS). These were promptly thrown in the bin and embarrassed apologies were graciously accepted.”