A raft of Israeli supermarket chains are halting imports from Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Hamas, Haaretz reports.
The companies include Israel’s largest supermarket chain, Shufersal, as well as competitors Rami Levy and Yochananof, Haaretz’s Simi Solter said, adding that smaller importers have followed suit.
Turkey has recently become a key exporter to Israel, ranking last year number five after China, the US, Switzerland and Germany. with Israel’s imports from Turkey amounting to $7 billion in 2022.
“We put together a delegation designed to divert some of our imports from other places to them, out of the understanding that they’re closer to us than Europe and they have diverse industry,” said Uriel Lynn, the president of the Federation of Israeli Chambers.
“The delegation consisted of 90 buyers from Israel (…) and they received the most wonderful reception. There was a desire for cooperation, and we felt that this was the best step to take,” he added.
