Outrage over Gaza war hits parts of Israeli economy. Will it last?

Cookies, nuts, and dates were on display at the Israeli stand at the Anuga food and beverage trade fair in Cologne, Germany, in early October, just before a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in Gaza. Potential European buyers sampled the items, praising their flavor.

But when they learned the products were made in Israel, “they left them on the table and walked away,” says Dan Hecht, managing director and co-founder of Export IL, which helps Israeli companies sell their goods abroad.

Earlier this year, a Dutch supermarket chain stopped restocking Israeli crackers, and a Norwegian retailer halted purchases of Israeli produce after its stores were vandalized by anti-Israel protesters, Mr. Hecht says.

“There were always groups of extreme Islamists that sometimes made trouble,” says Mr. Hecht, who has worked in exports for 16 years. But “in the past year, this has become unprecedented.”

The global backlash against Israel as it retaliated for Hamas’ devastating Oct. 7, 2023, attack grew amid perceptions of severe Israeli overreach. An estimated 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the coastal enclave has largely been reduced to rubble, and some have called the campaign genocide, a characterization Israel vehemently rejects.

While the backlash has largely targeted Israeli academia, cultural events, and tourists, it has also spilled over into the economy, raising concerns in Israel of increasing isolation. In September, this led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn, in a statement from which he later backtracked, that the nation could become a 21st-century “super-Sparta” – an isolated, self-reliant, and militarized state.