Most people would not be aware that two Israeli companies are the main suppliers of irrigation systems in Australia. They are potential targets for Palestine justice activists keen on expanding the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign into rural areas.
Along with the water business, FIMI/Rivulis and Netafim are deeply involved in the ongoing military oppression of Palestinians. Both companies provide military, surveillance and prison equipment to the Israeli government.
FIMI (First Israel Mezzanine Investors), which describes itself as a leader in “micro irrigation”, also owns Israeli defence firms.
Netafim is complicit in displacing Palestinians by assisting Israeli farmers to establish and run their agricultural businesses.
According to its website FIMI is “the leading private equity firm in Israel with more than US$2 billion in assets”.
In 2014, FIMI bought John Deere Water and renamed it Rivulis Irrigation. While headquartered in Israel, its head office is in Queensland.
Netafim Australia started business in 1993. Its Australian headquarters is in Victoria, while its Israeli HQ is in Tel Aviv. It is the world’s largest provider of drip irrigation services, with a more than 30% share of the global drip irrigation market.
According to its website, “we’re farmers first and innovators second … We started in 1965, in the Negev desert in Israel, trying to grow crops in desert soil … We know what it’s like to farm in local and extreme conditions…”
Read the article supporting BDS in Green Left Weekly.
[For a good response to this piece of BDS propaganda refer BDSers again expose the absurdity of their boycott claims.]