Israel | Production and markets

Israel seizes nine tons of vegetables in its fight against agricultural smuggling

The Israeli Prosecutor's Office maintains that plant products that are not inspected by Agriculture Ministry inspectors pose a real danger to public health and can cause irreversible damage to local agriculture.

6/9/2025

	Tweet

The Lod Magistrate's Court convicted a 29-year-old resident of Rahat of smuggling unsupervised agricultural produce totaling about 9 tons, including zucchini, eggplant, cherry tomatoes and peppers. The indictment was filed by the Israeli Prosecution Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security after a seizure by inspectors of the Central Enforcement and Investigation Unit (PITZ) at the ministry. The court sentenced the defendant to a suspended sentence of 21 days for three years, a fine of 36,000 NIS and an undertaking in the same amount not to commit similar offenses for two years. According to the investigation by the ministry's inspectors, the defendant attempted to transport goods from the Palestinian Authority to Israel using a forged shipping document and was arrested at the Husan checkpoint. It also emerged that the goods were intended for sale in the Ramla area. Attorney Uri Sirota, Chief Prosecutor at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security: "Plant produce that is not inspected and inspected by the ministry's inspectors poses a real danger to public health and may cause irreversible damage to local agriculture. The verdict given is considered high in relation to similar offenses in the past due to the significant scope of the produce that was seized and reflects the ministry's struggle.

In another incident, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court convicted a 53-year-old defendant from Abu-Snan of felling four mature and protected trees, oak and pine, in the Maalot-Alkush forest area. The defendant felled the trees illegally and in violation of the Forestry Ordinance, causing significant and irreversible damage to nature. The Ministry's Prosecution Department filed an indictment for the offense, which was identified and apprehended by Green Patrol inspectors. Although the defendant pleaded not guilty, the court convicted him and imposed a four-month suspended sentence, a fine of 16,000 NIS, and a financial commitment of 25,000 NIS to refrain from committing similar offenses for three years. The Ministry explains that in Israel there is a ban on felling mature or protected trees, and that a person wishing to cut down a tree must obtain permission from the forestry official.