Why This Campaign?
Dates are considered the “black gold” of Palestine. They are an important natural product of Palestine’s pure and blessed land. With the holy month of Ramadan knocking on the doors, this “black gold” is especially sacred due to the Muslim ritual of breaking fasts with them. But the Israeli colonial enterprise has produced its own industry of dates in a manner that is much more sinister.
Israeli date farms profit off of theft and abuse. They are predominantly grown in illegal Israeli settlements and are grown using stolen natural resources like water. Palestinian laborers, who are often forced by economic necessity to work in these illegal settlements, are forced to work in grueling physical conditions. Israeli labor laws are scarcely enforced when it pertains to Palestinian workers, leaving these Palestinians underpaid and un-compensated for their back-breaking work.
Since 2021, not a single pound of dates was exported to the U.S. from Gaza according to data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. This is due to the suffocating Israeli siege on Gaza which has prevented Palestinians from exporting their homegrown dates, the famous dates of Deir Al Balah. Meanwhile, Israel continues to be one of the top exporters of dates to the United States. In the 2022/23 market year, Israel exported at least 12 million dollars worth of dates to the U.S. Your boycott of Israeli dates is critical to pushing back on this exploitative industry.
What Else Can You Do?
- Share this page with your family and friends, and ask them to sign our pledge and join in solidarity with this boycott of Israeli dates to support justice for the Palestinian people.
- Download the campaign poster here. Print and share with your local stores.
- Follow us on social media (Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok) and share our campaign posts using the hashtag #BoycottIsraeliDates.
- Find alternative date companies that you can buy from! Palestinian dates are often labeled “Grown in Palestine,” and there are a plethora of Algerian, Tunisian, Emirati, and Californian varieties to choose from.