ISRAELI FARMERS THREATEN IDF BOYCOTT
Tel Aviv, 5 Dhulhijja 1435/29 September 2014 (MINA) – The Israel Farmers Association has threatened to refuse to sell produce to the Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) if it does not get a clear answer about the military’s new policy on observance of the Jewish sabbatical (shmita) year.
Earlier this month, union chairman Meir Zur accused its Defense Ministry and IOF of declaring “war on Israeli agriculture” after the army decided to import produce from abroad in order to comply with a strict interpretation of shmita, Time of Israel quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Association president Dov Amitai said the army had given him a commitment that in the second half of the year, it would revert to the policy of previous sabbatical years and buy from Israeli farmers, according to Israel Radio.
The policy does not appear to comply either with the Jewish legal position that mandates avoiding Israeli-grown produce throughout the sabbatical year, or the most lenient position that allows it throughout the year.
IFA leaders said the IOF’s promise to change its policy mid-year was insufficient. Amitai threatened to lead Israeli farmers in refusing to supply produce to the IOF in the absence of a clearer answer. He asked Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir to convene an emergency meeting and prevent the import of agricultural produce into Israel for the IOF.
Amitai also said that Israeli hotels had received requests to import agricultural products, causing concern that the trend will extend to other industries, which could cripple Israeli growers.
The army responded to Zur’s initial accusation in writing: “The population of the IOF is diverse, including over 5,000 ultra-Orthodox soldiers, who do not recognize the heter mehira [lenient loophole allowing farming] during the sabbatical year.
In order to preserve the unity of the camp, and to allow the entire IOF population to eat in a single kitchen, and in order to attain the national goal of drafting the ultra-Orthodox into the IOF… the army rabbinate has decided to avoid procuring vegetables [grown under] the heter mehira for the first half of the sabbatical year, until the end of February 2015.”
From March 2015 onward, the army will buy vegetables grown under the heter mehira, the army said, and the ultra-Orthodox soldiers will be given catered meals on disposable plates, in addition to sealed packages of fresh, imported vegetables.
The shmita year’s mandate to let the land lie fallow is relevant only to Jewish-owned tracts in Israel. Thus, it remained dormant for nearly two millennia until Zionist farmers began large-scale Jewish agriculture in the land of Israel.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders disagree with this interpretation, noting that Rabbi Spektor of Kovno, in first authorizing the exemption, wrote, “It must be explicitly stated that this exemption is only for the year 5649 (1889) but not for future shmita years… Then further meditation will be necessary…”(T/R03/R04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA
