The sticker indeed says "Product of Israel."The Qurayyat Municipality is on alert after its team confiscated from the local fruit market 140 kg of kakis (the Japanese persimmons) that had Israeli stickers, a section of the Arabic press reported on Tuesday.
The head of the municipality’s environment health department, Abdulaziz Al-Musaed, said the municipality acted on information that the Israeli-produced fruit was being sold in the market.
“The municipality team conducted a surprise inspection after the closing hours of the fruit market and confiscated the fruit boxes that originated from Israel,” he said. He added the municipality has notified the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
“The Saudi Food and Drug Authority was also notified. It inspected the fruit and confirmed that such fruit is not allowed in the Kingdom,” he added.
Al-Musaed noted that all shops were warned against dealing with fruit vendors who do not know the origin of the produce.
The head of Qurayyat Municipality, Ali Al-Shammari, said the local authority does not know how such fruit entered the country, especially as it carried a sticker stating its origin. A source at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said communications are ongoing with concerned bodies to find out how the fruit entered the country and whether it was a single shipment or several.
It is true that Israel exports persimmons - usually under the Sharon name, which is what one would expect to see on a sticker. And not in Arabic.
In all probability, this is a prank. Everyone knows that any Israeli product that supposedly makes it to a Gulf country causes headlines, so any mischievous Saudi teenager with an inkjet printer can print these off and stick them on random fruit.
Alternatively, this could be a deliberate attempt by another fruit store to close down a competitor.
Either way, seeing Saudis freak out over supposed Israeli fruit is almost as much fun as watching Electronic Intifada writers freak out over a cargo service that may or may not handle settlement produce.
It is like five year olds running away at the thought of getting cooties.
(h/t Ibn Boutros, plus correction in translation)