Arab Companies are still Trading with Israel despite calls for a Trade Boycott over Gaza

A study conducted by Middle East Eye (MEE) and Arabic Post discovered that hundreds of products originating from Arab countries still bear kosher certifications and are consumed in Israel. This discovery proves that Israel is conducting everyday trade practices with several countries of the region, like UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco, even when Israel is internationally condemned and demanded a trade embargo because of its operations in Gaza. 

 The Chief Rabbinate of Israel, involved in kosher product certification, has granted new seals to many products from the countries mentioned above since the beginning of October 2015. Such kosher-certified products have been identified in various supermarkets within Israel and some of the e-shops, although some firms have refuted transporting these products directly to Israel. Some say their products might get exported to Israel through third-country traders or are meant for Palestine markets where kosher certification is not a must. 

 The investigation also reveals that, even though such certificates do not prove that the traders are active in the relevant trades, the number of such certificates approved speaks volumes about the existence of all-encompassing infrastructures to foster continuing Arab-Israel trade in the subject Arab countries. 

 In support, information derived from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reveals more of the ongoing trade developments. The imports from Egypt to Israel in May 2024 stand at $25 million, twice what they were in May 2023.

 However, the total imports to Egypt for the initial five months of 2024 showed a much lower trend than the previous year. For the same period, UAE imports to Israel stood at almost $1. 2 billion, slightly lower than the prior year; fluctuations were experienced in trade values of imports through Jordan and Morocco. The BDS movement sees this rise in trade as collaborating with Israeli deeds to Palestinians. 

The Arab people disapprove of this dual trade, which adopts a partial boycott. At the same time, Mahmoud Nawaja, BDS’s national committee general coordinator, points out that this kind of trade is being done by governments that we influence. 

 Equal kosher certification is accorded to products sourced from companies based in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates: thirty-five companies from Egypt, twenty-five from Morocco, five from Jordan, four from UAE, and others. Kosher certification has been accorded to about 442 food items, such as frozen vegetables, oils, tahini, and juices. 

 The firms that acknowledged the certification of their products are the Al Barakah Dates Factory and Hunter Foods from the UAE. Some other Egyptian companies that have earned certifications are the Faragalla Group and Agro Green for juices, frozen okra, and molokhia. Moroccan-affiliated businesses consist of Atlas Olive Oils and Talekroup, a seafood company, but some are located in areas with a conflict of sovereignty, such as Western Sahara. 

 Managerial respondents of some of the companies that received MEE and Arabic Post say their kosher-certified products are for Palestinians. For instance, when dealing with Srour, a Jordanian company, the firm affirmed that its products were labeled for historic Palestine, claiming that certifying its products as kosher was compulsory by Israeli laws. 

 Turkish goods also create somewhat ambiguous situations. Thus, while Turkey has had no direct trade with Israel since October 2000, Greek sources report that Turkish products have appeared in the Jewish state’s supermarkets. This is evident because trade relations are conveyed independently of political conflict. 

 The Abraham Accords Peace Institute’s report for 2023 indicates that the war in Gaza was the least destructive of Israel’s trade relations with the rest of the world. Exports and imports with Arab countries decreased by only 4%, resulting in a decrease in Israel’s international trade by 18%. 

 All these examples depict the continuing economic bipolarity in the Middle East with Israel and some Arab countries despite political and humanitarian tensions. Despite the situation in Gaza, export-import interactions based on economic self-interests and mediated by third parties remain pretty entangled.