The Chairman of the Knesset Agriculture Lobby, MK Shai Hermesh (Kadima), has called for a boycott of supermarket chains selling frozen vegetables from China.
The Yesh chain, offering bargain prices mainly in hareidi-religious centers, has been selling frozen corn, peas, and string beans imported from China for the past three months. Other smaller stores have been selling them as well.
Israeli farmers demand that the tariffs on imported vegetables be raised, claiming that the Chinese are able to sell their produce at prices lower than what they cost to raise here in Israel.
Tzvi Alon, Director of the Plants Production and Marketing Board, said, “It would be a catastrophe for Israeli agriculture if we are forced to stop growing vegetables. Large tracts of land will stand empty, we will be dependent on other countries for food, and hundreds of workers in farming and industry will be endangered.”
MK Hermesh spoke in the Knesset about the problem, noting that it was another symptom of a larger problem. “The Israel Prison Service recently decided to buy 60,000 sets of prison uniforms from China, leaving workers from the northern and southern periphery without work. Maybe they should bring prison wardens from China as well, and not just the uniforms…”
“I don’t want to call this anti-Zionism,” Hermesh said, “but it is more than wanton [negligence]. Agriculture is not just a business; it is a shlichut, a mission. When we import agriculture, we are hurting the farmers of the Aravah and around Gaza. I propose a consumer boycott of stores and chains that sell imported produce, as well as protests outside their doors.”
“Try to sell the United States Army a beret made abroad. Or try to sneak in a grain of wheat under the noses of the American farmer, and see if they let you. Every country knows that it has to protect its farmers.”
“There is no Zionism without agriculture!” concluded Hermesh.