Poll: 24% of Jewish Israelis boycotting Arab businesses

Numbers down since the Gaza op, but 51% say they’d shun establishments that employ people who criticize the army

By JTA 1 October 2014, 5:05 pm

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Illustrative. A man looks at dairy products while shopping at a Rami Levy supermarket. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Twenty-four percent of Jewish-Israeli consumers are boycotting Arab businesses in the wake of the summer’s Gaza conflict, according to an Israeli business daily.

The 24% is down from the 29% who said they were boycotting Arab-owned businesses during the 50-day-long Operation Protective Edge, and down significantly from the 47% who said during the operation that they planned to boycott such businesses, Globes reported citing a telephone survey by the Tel Aviv-based Geocartography Knowledge Group research institute.

Some 51% of those surveyed also said that businesses that do not fire employees who criticize the Israel Defense Forces should be boycotted, and that some 11% of Jewish Israelis are boycotting such businesses.

Another 40% said they would boycott such businesses if they could identify them, the survey reportedly found.

Globes quoted unnamed sources among suppliers who say that sales to Arab-owned markets are down substantially in recent months.