Boycott Israel? Yes! Iran, Sudan? Nah

An American Jewish reporter secretly filmed three Irish retailers who boycott Israeli products agreeing to do business with Sudan, Iran and North Korea.

The segment aired by Fox News Thursday shows Ami Horowitz speaking to business owners in Ireland while posing as a sales agent for firms that he presents as not being comfortable selling to retailers who also offer Israeli products.

In his conversations, Horowitz emphasizes almost comically the human rights’ abuses of the regimes he purportedly represents. None of his comments elicit any kind of adverse reactions from the potential buyers.

In a conversation with one Irish retailer in the food industry, Horowitz said he was representing a Sudanese chocolate maker. Confirming he has no moral objections to working with firms from Sudan, where the government has been accused of genocide, the retailer assured Horowitz his firm does not deal in Israel products.

“Oh, we don’t,” said the retailer, who was not identified by name but whose face was in the footage, when asked whether his store sells Israeli products. “We have a pro-Palestinian policy.”

The retailer remains unfazed when Horowitz tells him that Sudan is “well known for stoning women and gay people, but it’s so great that people can get past that.” He then adds that his company is “herbicide-free, pesticide-free, Jew-free.”

Another retailer confirmed he does not object to buying products from North Korea, a totalitarian state where hundreds of thousands are believed to have perished in gulags. Asked about Israel, he said “We don’t do any business with Israel” and pointed to a sign on his door that read “boycott apartheid Israel” and “apartheid-free zone.”

The products, Horowitz tells the retailers, are “made by our ‘guest workers’,” he says, as subtitles add he was making a gesture of quotation marks upon saying the phrase “guest workers.” The products are “all handmade, these are all former artisans.. pre-internment.” Horowitz then adds that his company is “happy to charge such a low price” because “gulag workers are making this and so we pass the savings on to you.”

The third retailer, whom Horowitz told he was representing an Iranian organic farm, said: “We have an embargo, we don’t do any Israeli business.” Horowitz then said: “I assume you guys have no cultural, political issue with working with Iran.”

She then replied: “No, no,” adding: “Send some information, prices and whatever you have and we’ll have a look over it.”

Horowitz told the retailer: “We have workers/political prisoners, who have among the lowest water usage rates in the world. We’re very proud of that. No electricity, very little water, really, our workers have almost no carbon footprint.”