(Times of Israel) David Shamah - The boycott, divest, and sanction (BDS) movement, which seeks to cut economic ties with Israel, has not stopped Israeli manufacturers and exporters. According to Economy Ministry figures, while in 2013, 760 Israeli manufacturers marked their products marketed abroad as "made in Israel," by 2014 that number had grown to 1,024. Ohad Cohen, who heads the Foreign Trade Administration in the ministry, explains: "BDS campaigns are really only effective against identifiable consumer products....Most of our production is in intermediate goods - chemicals, machine parts, technology, etc. Israel's main customers are the businesses that use these components, and for most companies, business is business, and they keep politics out of the picture." Kristin Lindow, senior vice president at Moody's Investors Service and Moody's lead analyst for Israel, said, "The impact of BDS is more psychological than real so far and has had no discernible impact on Israeli trade or the broader economy."
2015-04-24 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive