Food Price Inflation Casts Shadow on Jewish High Holidays

October 10, 2024

10:27 AM

Reading time: 3 minutes


As Israelis prepare to fast for the Feast of Yom Kippur on Friday, a popular joke that is beginning to make the rounds is "who will even notice"? This is because many Israelis have already been skipping meals and sometimes even going whole days and even longer without eating, but it's not for religious reasons. There is a growing food supply crisis which is made worse by the fact that most of Israel's agricultural production takes place in areas that have been war zones for the past year.

A report released this week by food charity Leket and BDO, a financial services company, listed data points regarding the increase in prices of many staple items as well as a lowering of availability for many things, especially fresh fruit and vegetables. Prices for fresh produce have risen 9%, while prices for meat and dairy products rising by 7% and 4% respectively.

Joseph Gitler, founder and chairman of Leket Israel, told The Media Line, “That’s called nutritional insecurity. Nutritional insecurity means you have to make choices. And sometimes the choice is, ‘I can’t buy the right food, I need to buy enough food.’”

Chen Herzog, BDO’s chief economist in Israel, added in a statement to The Media Line: “Around 30% of Israel’s agricultural land is in conflict areas—specifically near Gaza and the northern border. The ability to harvest has been greatly impacted...some foreign workers have left due to safety concerns, with some even being kidnapped on October 7.”

“Even though Israel increased food imports, it wasn’t enough to prevent shortages and price hikes. We’ve seen significant price increases, particularly in fruits and vegetables.”

The report also noted that on October 7th, almost $500 million in material damage was done to agricultural fields and production equipment in the Gaza envelope communities. This included irrigation systems, tractors, combine harvesters and other vehicles.

Another concern raised is that going forward, Israelis who are eating less healthy food today will have more health problems going forward, leading to increased excess mortality, rising costs for medicine and hospitalization, rising obesity and related conditions and a general deterioration in public health.

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