Calls for Muslims in Europe to #CheckTheLabel and boycott Israel dates this Ramadan

Muslims across Europe are being encouraged to #CheckTheLabel and boycott Israeli dates this Ramadan to make sure they are not breaking their fasts with the “taste of apartheid”.

Israel is the world’s largest producer of Medjoul dates, with 50 per cent of Israel’s dates exported to Europe. These dates are then sold in major supermarkets including ASDA and Tesco in the UK as well as local shops across the continent.

Yet Israel “is an apartheid state that has ethnically cleansed Palestinians from their ancestral lands for 75 years,” a statement from the Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) said in its call for consumers to watch what they eat this Ramadan. “By choosing not to buy Israeli dates this Ramadan, the Muslim community can send a clear and powerful message of condemnation of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid in Palestine”, said Shamiul Joarder at UK-based FOA.

Over the last few years, the number of attacks on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan has rapidly increased. In April 2022, Israeli forces brutally attacked Palestinian worshippers, including women, children and the elderly using tear gas, sound grenades and steel-coated rubber bullets. Over the space of ten days Israel injured more than 250 Palestinian worshippers.

“It’s time to renew our commitment to BDS this Ramadan. We must remember that as a community, we are powerful – we can make our voices heard through the simple act of putting Israeli dates back on the shelf. All we need to do is #CheckTheLabel and not buy dates from apartheid Israel,” Joarder added, referencing the Palestinian-led non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

So far in 2023 Israel has killed at least 62 Palestinians including 13 children – the equivalentof one child every five days. The Israeli government is increasing home demolitions at analarming rate and has promised to expand illegal settlements at an unprecedented level.

The world’s leading human rights organisations have said that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid, “but European states are failing to impose sanctions on Israel and uphold  international law”, FOA’s statement added.

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