The beginning of the Jewish sabbatical year is just two weeks away, but the kashrut certification bureaucrats are breaking new records for the absurd: Kashrut supervisors from the Chief Rabbinate are forcing Israeli Arabs to sign a document that gives the Israel Lands Administration and the Chief Rabbinate the right to sell the land to a non-Jew as a condition for continued kosher certification for their produce. If they refuse to sign, they were told that the wholesalers to whom they sell their goods will also lose their kashrut certification.

The loss of the certificate would mean that the farmers and wholesalers would be unable to sell their produce in Jewish towns and stores.

MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al) called on Arab farmers not to sign the forms, saying that it was an illegal demand.