“I already have bids in for various ‘I love Israel’ tourist swag, and it looks like at least four or five big orders might be coming my way in the net month alone.”
Gaza City, May 5 – The local Palestinian producer of white banners with two parallel, horizontal blue stripes on either side of a blue Star of David, which he provides to Hamas and other protesters so that the latter may set them on fire in displays of antipathy for the Jewish State whose emblem it represents, has stumbled upon a more profitable market for his product, in the form of people just across the border celebrating the anniversary of that state.
Jamal Halabi, 30, discovered over the last several weeks that he can generate far more income from selling his makeshift Israeli flags to actual Israelis for today’s Independence Day festivities than he can from the handful of such pieces he sells to Palestinian rioters, and plans to expand the business to exploit the new revenue stream in the weeks and years ahead.
“I didn’t realize how much sales volume was involved,” confessed Halabi, a father of three. “It’s insane. Israelis apparently love their country. It’s almost as if they don’t get bombarded with Hamas, Iranian, and PLO propaganda calling their entire national enterprise a war crime, and are proud to be part of something collective. I wonder what that’s like?”
Halabi discovered the market niche almost by accident. “I was looking for export markets for an entirely unrelated thing I do, a little bit of graphic art work and signmaking,” he recalled. “Somehow I came across an Israeli vendor who was looking for last-minute alternatives to the Chinese shipment he’d been expecting, but which global commerce disruptions had prevented from arrival at Haifa Port in time for Yom Ha’Atzmaut. I realized I could supply the quantity he needed right away, even though the quality of my improvised merchandise might not meet his typical standards – but he accepted, and I just sent my third delivery through the Kerem Shalom crossing” into Israel.
Future sales appear imminent. “I think I secured another small order for Jerusalem Reunification Day,” he gushed. “Business has never looked better.”
Halabi works with three employees and is considering hiring five more to handle the anticipated growth in demand beyond the quotidian sales to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other local customers. “It’ll likely be seasonal work, into the spring, when Israel celebrates, but I can adapt to suit other needs,” he predicted. “I already have bids in for various ‘I love Israel’ tourist swag, and it looks like at least four or five big orders might be coming my way in the net month alone.”
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