Israeli Dates - The Scandal Continues

Those of you who have been following my blog will know that I have recently exposed two so-called "halal" supermarkets in Bradistan for selling Israeli dates. My reports have now been picked up by local activists from "United 4 Palestine" and they have reported that they will be visiting these shops to press them to remove these products from sale.

Yesterday I visited a number of local "halal" supermarkets and was shocked to find so many Israeli dates on sale. At Fresh Fare Foods on Little Horton Lane, Israeli medjool dates were openly on sale by the entrance. The dates were clearly labelled as "Product of Israel". I complained to the staff there and they said that the dates would be removed "insha'allah". When I spoke to them, they appeared to be ignorant of the dates' origin and claimed they simply did not know where they were from.


I made another visit to Al Halal on Woodhead Road and noticed that many brand new boxes of Israeli medjool dates were on sale. There were two different kinds - very large boxes labelled as "Kalahari Dates" and smaller boxes too. The larger box was labelled as "Product of South Africa" while the smaller box intriguingly had no country of origin stated on the box. The brand of both boxes was Jordan River, which is a name of the Israeli company Hadiklaim. Even if these dates were actually grown in South Africa, it is still an Israeli company. Therefore, buying these dates means directly supporting the Israeli economy and its' occupation of Palestine.

Naturally I complained to staff and they said that they would be removed from sale. However, Al Halal's promises have previously been proved to be rather hollow and they have continued to sell such products.

I then went to Haq's "halal" supermarket on Legrams Lane. On entering they had a vast array of freshly arrived Tunisian dates. However, closer inspection revealed that they also were selling the smaller boxes of Jordan River dates which I had just seen at Al Halal. I complained to the staff and spoke to a man who said that he was the buyer of the store. He said he was well aware of the campaign to boycott Israeli products and previously they had removed such products from the shelves. I told him that I hoped they would do the same this time round.

This is now four Muslim supermarkets in quick succession that I have seen these products on sale and I haven't been on any mission to find them. They have all been in shops I have happened to visit and seen them freely on sale. How many other shops here in Bradistan are selling these dates? I firmly believe that these stores need to be named and shamed. They are happy enough to take our money all year round and promote themselves as "halal" when in reality they are continuing to support Israel's barbaric occupation of Palestine, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Maximum pressure is needed to stop these actions and to raise awareness of the desperate plight of the Palestinians, especially those in Gaza. Every Israeli date sold in Bradistan directly aids the Israeli economy and war machine. In my opinion, we would be better off labelling these guilty shops as "haram supermarkets" not "halal" ones and tell them that we will not give them our hard-earned money anymore if they carry on with this scandal.