ISRAEL: Iranian pistachios? Diplomacy can be nutty

OK, so Israel has issues with Iran. But splitting atoms is one thing; splitting hairs on where Israel gets its pistachios
is entirely another. 

For years, the U.S. has been pressuring Israel to break the habit of buying Iranian pistachios from third-party markets such as Turkey and turning a blind eye to trade-embargo issues (although the U.S. trade sanctions seem to have their own quirks).

To be sure, Israelis love pistachios. In a recent interview, President Shimon Peres recalled with nostalgia the wondrous fistouk shammi (Aleppo pistachios) he enjoyed years ago in Iran as the shah's guest.

Now he might get a taste of California instead, as reports say San Joaquin pistachios are headed for Israel.

A convenient solution to the diplomatic discomfort came about with recent tinkering to Israeli taxes that raised tariffs on  non-U.S. pistachios, making the U.S.-grown nuts a much better deal and providing Israel with politically correct pistachios to boot.

The intense lobbying at surprisingly high echelons is probably due not only to diplomatic efforts but also to the fact that Israel has the highest pistachio-per-capita consumption rate in the world, making it a lucrative market to penetrate. And the U.S. is the world's second-largest producer of pistachios -- after Iran.

-- Batsheva Sobelman

Photo: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Javad]

I guess being a member of WTO but raising tariffs selectively and not being a member of NPT but having all sort of nuclear weapons is the way Israel do business, do as I say but don't do as I do b.s.!

"fact that Israel has the highest pistachio-per-capita consumption rate in the world"
Lets see how this fact breaks down in numbers, 6 million people in Israel, half of it don't have teeth to enjoy pistachio by being infant or having false teeth, out of the other half most take pistachio as a part of exotic prepared meal once in a full blue moon as Perez does, and small minority which can afford pistachio for once in while stand alone snack ($5 per my serving in California where it's grown). If Israel want to portray her pistachio market as driving engine of world market, she should publish how much she spent annually in relative to billions of dollar world pistachio market.

Having being fed by mass produced US agriculture industries for long time now, I can not still tell difference between taste of apples and pears and cardboards, I'm hoping Israelis will enjoy US pistachio since they taste the same as walnuts and peanuts, kind of all purpose nut for nuts:D