A Lebanese shopper discovered several food items made in Israel in one of Lebanon’s largest retailers Tuesday, the Daily Star reported on Tuesday..
While shopping at Spinneys, in the coastal city of Sidon, a man, who preferred to remain anonymous, discovered a bag of three kinds of peppers made in Israel.
It should be noted, however, that the red and green peppers were clearly marked as imported from Spain, while only the yellow peppers were grown in Israel.
That’s only a 33% ratio of Israeli to Spanish peppers.
The anonymous customer immediately contacted local authorities who in turn contacted the Lebanese Army.
That’s probably because only one out of three peppers were enemy produce. Otherwise, the Navy and the Airforce would surely have been alerted as well.
And Hezbollah would have been notified in case of Jewish jalapeños.
In the end it was members of military intelligence and police who arrived at Spinneys, and their experts discovered 13 similar bags that had the word “Israel” printed on the sale tag.
There was much anger, and waling, and the gnashing of teeth.
Police experts pointed out that the international bar code for the offending items was scratched with a blue pen and a new code was handwritten on the bag.
Deception!
The case was then referred to the military judiciary for investigation into how the produce made it through customs at the port or the airport.
Spinneys had a similar incident almost ten years ago when shoppers discovered mugs made in Israel being sold at the retailer.
A search through the Spinneys Lebanon website yielded no Israeli products and no peppers, mixed or otherwise.