The coat of arms of Morocco. A Moroccan government minister has denied that his country has any trade relations with Israel. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – In response to a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement campaign in Morocco during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a Moroccan government minister has denied that his country has any trade relations with Israel. The BDS campaign calls on merchants to boycott “Zionist” dates.

“The government has never granted any license for anyone to import dates or any other Israeli products,” Mohammad Abu, Morocco’s minister of foreign trade, said during a parliamentary session in response to a question about the popularity of Israeli dates in Moroccan markets during Ramadan. Dates are one of the traditional foods Muslims eat for Ramadan.

Abu added that official data indicates Morocco “has no commercial relations” with Israel and that the country’s government is fighting “the entry of all Israeli goods to Morocco,” the Moroccan news website Akhbar Alyaoum reported.

Moroccan lawmaker MP Mehdi Mazari said in a statement that the current value of Israeli products in Morocco totals $50 million, and that “all these products could not have entered the kingdom through smuggling.”