This Ramadan, make sure your dates are halaal

You —

Boycott Israeli Dates

The dates are juicy and succulent and full of energy. The perfect way to open the fast. Shop keepers love them - they can charge a premium and people will pay. Better still, the people want them "Last year I did not stock them and people complained. I lost business and this year I am going to stock them. They are our best seller" is the word from their mouths.

It all sounds good, but there is one problem - these dates are like "blood dates" - the equivalent of blood diamonds where we are gorging on the misery of others. They are grown on occupied territory, watered using resources stolen from others.

This is not through some indirect link where money paid to corporations is somehow funnelled through many parties before it ends up in hands that do not please, but a direct link - the dates are grown on stolen Palestinian land and watered with water that has been confiscated from the Palestinians.

By purchasing them you have a direct impact on what happens in the occupied territories.

So, when you next open a fast, do you really want to finish your day by forcing misery upon others? Is that really in the spirit of fasting?

(The ones I had in mind were those big and juicy ones - Branded "King Solomons" or and/or "Jordan Valley".)

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You — Fri, 7 Aug 2009 - 22:03

you're welcome.

PS feel free to make yourself at home. You can also choose to - if you want to - create either an introductory blog post or a reply to the new members topic. Remember to list your favourite chocolate, some people find that important.

ilm (not verified) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 16:33

This is the truth, not blackmailing... THE TRUTH!

By intentionally purchasing Israeli blood soaked dates you have made a decision to support Zionist oppression & murder. No one can possibly deny this.

I'm glad to see the video shakes people because quite frankly the Ummah needs to be shaken and woken up.

You — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 16:45

to be fair, the Israelis are killing and maiming far less muslims/people than some other Muslim regimes.

Darfur is a popular example here.

The dates grown in Israel can be grown by private enterprise on legitimately owned land and in such a case (apart from any taxes that are used for occupation), they can be considered alright.

On the other hand, the dates can be grown on stolen land or using stolen resources and in that case it is certainly not right.

ilm (not verified) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 20:53

Brother, if there is any produce from Darfur that is contributing to the slaughter of innocent Muslims then please let me know!!

How can it be considered alright if you know that the profit will directly or even indirectly contribute towards the Zionist regime? How can you sleep easily knowing that?
Even if the profits from "legitimate" companies aren't used to oppress Palestinian men, women and children, the fact remains by purchasing their goods you are directly supporting their economy, period. In order too exert pressure on the Israeli government it is th Israeli economy which needs to be boycotted i.e ALL Israeli goods & services.

We as consumers have the power to choose which items we purchase and so we should make informed purchases.

You — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 21:32

I can sleep soundly knowing that because I also know when someone buys Palestinian goods, some of the proceeds may also indirectly go and fund Israeli aggression - some of it even directly as the Palestinians were the cheap labour used to build many of the illegal settlements that are used to occupy and oppress them.

If there are private Israeli farmers who are NOT infringing on the freedom of the Palestinians, are using their own resources and using land that they legitimately own (by legitimately I do not mean what the Israeli authorities say, but what is morally and ethically theirs as there were some Jewish people in the Palestinian lands before the creation of Israel too who purchased their lands in a peaceful manner) then you cannot fault that person for trying to run a legitimate business.

ilm (not verified) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 21:54

Brother, Palestinian workers who work on these farms themselves say you should boycott these goods... what excuse do we have know?

If you want legitimate Palestinian dates then buy from Zaytoun.

You find me a "legitimate" Israeli dates producer, I highly doubt there is one and that is beside the point, I think you failed to understand my point about economic pressure.

Maybe others reading this will understandd

You — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 22:09

actually, I think you failed to understand my point.

and I am in no way saying that someone should buy the produce (if you notice, I am the person who also created this thread) but pretending there is not a difference between dates produced on stolen land or with stolen resources to those not produced in such a way is IMO incorrect.

By all means avoid both - especially as there may be very few ways to distinguish between the products, but one has a lot more blood on it than the other.

ilm (not verified) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 22:17

I acknowledge your point and i agree with you BUT like you said they both have blood. I'm saying regardless of how much blood they BOTH HAVE blood the fore they should both be boycotted. same applies for any Israeli good.

1R4M — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 22:20

I swear
NOTHING is halal nowadays!

crisps have alcohol in them
blood diamonds
the fruit that we buy is from occupied land
the air that we breathe is secretly being poisoned (ok I made that up but I wudnt be surprised if that started circulating!)

I wanna eat in peace!
and not feel guilty!

stupid blood dates...

Ya'qub — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 22:53

ilm if you feel so strongly about boycotting israeli products you shouldn't be posting on this forum cos Pentium chips are made in Israel, using Israeli technology - so you need to go and invent your OWN computer and then sell it to all the Muslims so they don't have to support Israel while posting shouty comments on forums either,

I like your login name, btw. 'ilm', it means 'wisdom'. what made you choose it????

You — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 - 23:28

[quote=1R4M]I wanna eat in peace!
and not feel guilty![/quote]

There is plenty of food you can eat guilt free. There is even fair trade coffee out there. for those that are willing to torture themselves with things such as coffee.

ilm (not verified) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 - 00:30

[quote=Ya'qub]ilm if you feel so strongly about boycotting israeli products you shouldn't be posting on this forum cos Pentium chips are made in Israel, using Israeli technology - so you need to go and invent your OWN computer and then sell it to all the Muslims so they don't have to support Israel while posting shouty comments on forums either,

I like your login name, btw. 'ilm', it means 'wisdom'. what made you choose it????[/quote]

Actually... You're wrong... "ilm" is Arabic for "Knowledge".

Anyways, I'm sorry if that's the way you perceived my comments.
And I've already addressed your point in a earlier post when I said we as consumers have a choice and that we should make intelligent purchases.

Buying a pentium chip nowadays is hard to avoid but is possible, for example, I have a PC running AMD processor which is not produced in Israel.

The point I am emphasising is when we can avoid purchasing Israeli goods then there is no excuse not to...

You — Wed, 2 Sep 2009 - 23:23

Faithful warned against buying "occupation dates" this Ramadan

Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada, 2 September 2009

Israel's largest produce exporter, Agrexco, is once again under fire because of its dates produced in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. This year, the company's dates arrived in time for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which faithful Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and traditionally break their fast by eating a date.

Agrexco, which sells flowers, vegetables and fruit, including dates, produced in both Israel and the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, expects a ten percent increase in the export of Carmel dates. However, sales might be hampered by growing calls from solidarity organizations in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United Kingdom for a boycott of Israeli dates this Ramadan because of the company's involvement in Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

It's not the first time that Agrexco has been targeted by Palestine solidarity activists. The company is half-owned by the government of Israel and has been the focus of boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign efforts for years, mainly because of its settlement-based operations that are in violation of international law.

Read more @ Electronic Intifada

dark^knight — Thu, 3 Sep 2009 - 10:21

I walked into Worldwide Cash & Carry in Oldham the other day, hoping to buy some dates.

They had an amazingly large range of dates, especially the large and succulent medjool dates. So I decided to look at the packaging for the origin of the dates, and to my horror they were from Israel (Jordan River).

I would have thought that a supermarket that calls itself 'Al-Halal', would put their halal ethics before profits...but I was wrong!

Here is their website:
http://www.alhalalsupermarket.co.uk/

You — Mon, 31 May 2010 - 18:02

To get this type of message to be properly heard we need the message to get out there BEFORE the shops buy the dates.

So how about someone leading a campaign to let the shops know that people whill not buy blood dates?

Hajjar — Mon, 31 May 2010 - 18:35

i agree with ilm boycott israeli products where possible. sure it will be impossible to boycott everything, since they produce so much for the west, but do what we can.

those dates pictured on that clip u put up you, they look like those commercial ones full of sugar, that my dad used to get when we were kids. they still sell them in asian grocers, come in a long narrow white polystyrene container, wrapped in cling film, and a little plastic folk inside to dish them out. oh the memories lol.

course now older i realise they were not the real deal. Dates from Arab world are amazing. Some are so big and fleshy you can eat a few with a glass of cold milk and that will satisfy your hunger, oh bliss. main food i look forward to in Ramadhan are the dates.