Wait, aren't boycotts bad?
In protest of the anti-free speech “boycott law” the Knesset passed last week, we will begin chronicling here any time boycotts are used for other purposes by Israelis. Our first submission below, a poster from Israel in 1938 calling on Israeli Jews to boycott Palestinian Arab products. (Hat tip Harvey Stein)
Speaking of boycotts, check out the new Israeli boycott campaign against opening a McDonald’s at Masada. And, yes, under the new law, McDonald’s corporation can now sue any Israeli who “likes” that Facebook page. As a friend of mine suggested, perhaps the Judean zealots “committed Supersize” rather than be killed by the Romans. (Hat tip Heeb.)
Translation: [See Uri’s comment below for the detailed translation.]
BOYCOTT BOYCOTT! (POSTER FROM 1938 URGING JEWISH BOYCOTT OF PALESTINIAN ARAB GOODS)
Text translation–
(Red letters, top): Eat only canned food produced in the land of Israel
(Black letters, middle) Tons of fruits and vegetables are process by “Primazon” and “Tnuva” and other factories. Also sea and kineret fish are processed and canned by “Primazon”.
The canning industry has achieved high standards and its products are well known for their excellent quality and hygienic processing.
Red letters, bottom: Eat only Israeli canned food!
Black letters, bottom: The Society for Israeli products.
Artist/Designer/Photographer: Lydia Wolpert
Year: 1938
Language: Hebrew
Publisher: Association for Products of Eretz Israel
Swing and a miss. This is not a poster for a boycott. The translation provided is terrible! Here is what it actually says – translation is my own (I have passed the Hebrew proficiency exam at Tel-Aviv University).
(Red letters at the top) – “Pickles and Canned Goods in the Land of Israel”
(Black letters in the center):
Thousands of tons of fruit
and vegetables from the workers
of “Primazon”, “Tenuva” and other factories.
Also fish from the Kinneret
pickled by workers at ‘Primazon’
The pickling industry
has a high rating
and the products are known
for their high quality
and hygienic processing methods.
Pickles made in Israel
are high in vitamins!
(Red letters at the bottom) Only eat pickles that were made in Israel.
(Black letters at the bottom) The society for Israeli products.
Now where in this poster does it say to boycott anybody? Campaigns to encourage people to buy local is not the same as a boycott of on-local products. By that measure “buy the Union label” is also a boycott of clothing made outside of the US. Bad example KFJ. Next time pick a real boycott.
There is much better stuff around using only Hebrew Labor from campaigns in the 1920s. But wouldn’t that qualify as a ‘buycott’? This poster only wants you to each food from Eretz Yisrael; no mention is made of whether or not it is produced by Jews or Arabs.
That said…. in context it is pretty clear that the Yishuv engaged in restrictions on a truly free labor and retail market to privilege the development of the Jewish community.
“in context it is pretty clear that the Yishuv engaged in restrictions on a truly free labor and retail market to privilege the development of the Jewish community.”
That is still not the same as a boycott. This very well could have been a poster to try to stem the tide of imports from Europe or the US.
My husband wondered if calling a heksher invalid was the same as a boycott. Hee.
One more thing. Y’all see how the poster was proudly celebrating factory processed food? I love that. What an innocent age. FYI, it’s not only about ‘pickles.’ It’s ‘processed food preserved with brine including fish and whatever.’ Mmmmgood!
Yeah I should have wrote ‘Pickled products’.
Love how e word for pickle and for conquer are the same… Doesn’t ramban say something about that? Uri, you should be playing with a baby not translating posters from the 30s.
My mistake everyone, translation provided by a third party.