ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The movement to boycott Israeli dates continues to occur in Indonesia after the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) fatwa banned Israeli dates.
Most recently, date traders in Kediri City, East Java rejected dates sent from Israel.
The call for a boycott movement against Israeli products issued by the MUI has made buyers selective in choosing products, including dates. Not a few consumers are worried and often ask whether the dates being sold come from Israel or from other countries.
The traders are committed to not selling dates, or Israeli-affiliated products. Moreover, since the government issued a fatwa against consuming dates from Israel, traders have firmly rejected dates from that region.
“From the start, we have not taken dates from Israel. Because this is a form of support for the boycott of products from Israel. We are also selective and identify the products offered by suppliers,” said Ahmad, one of the traders, Friday, March 15 2024.
Traders are very selective when receiving offers from suppliers. The reason is, the Israelis are very cunning by including labels on dates from Palestine, or packaging them in America so they can still be sold.
“So we never take dates from Palestine, because we know they are dates produced from Israel. Apart from that, they (Israel) also trick them into packing them in America,” he explained.
During the month of Ramadan, sales of dates increase sharply. Traders are able to sell as many as 200 to 250 boxes.
The dates marketed come from countries such as Dubai, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia (Medina), Libya and Palestine.
There are no Imports of Israeli Dates
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) confirmed that there is no data on imports of Israeli dates throughout 2024.
According to BPS, Indonesia buys the fruit mostly from Tunisia and Egypt.
“There are no imports of dates from Israel. None at all. BPS data shows that the dates we import mostly come from Tunisia, Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia,” said Acting Head of BPS, Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, at a press conference on Friday. March 15, 2024.
According to Amalia, Indonesia imported dates worth $17.18 million in February 2024, up 25.77% from $13.66 million in January. This means that Indonesia’s total date imports reached $30.84 million in the first two months of 2024.
Around 58% of date imports in January-February came from Tunisia and Egypt. Indonesia bought $9.15 million worth of dates from Tunisia during the period, while imports of the fruit from Egypt totaled $8.74 million.
Apart from that, Indonesia also bought dates from Iran worth $2.87 million and from Saudi Arabia worth $2.66 million during the same period. Around $7.42 million of date imports or equivalent to 24.07% came from other countries.
It is known that Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, although data from the Ministry of Trade shows that the two countries are still trading.
The Ministry of Trade reports that Israel-Indonesia trade will reach $187.7 million in 2023. In January 2024, bilateral trade between Indonesia and Israel reached $20.2 million.
Indonesia imported fewer dates overall this year. For comparison, Indonesia bought $19.34 billion worth of dates from abroad in February 2023. (AT Network)
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