Betrayal of Halal: When Certification Fails the Cause of Justice

Yesterday, at a food-related tradeshow in Japan, I had an encounter that left me seething with disbelief and anger. Among the bustling booths and dazzling displays, I stumbled upon a stall belonging to an Israeli company. It wasn’t just the presence of this company that troubled me—it was the fact that their products carried a Halal certification issued by an organization in the Netherlands.

Halal. A concept that symbolizes purity, trust, and a commitment to ethics. And yet, here it was, desecrated. This certification adorned the products of a company operating in Israel, a state whose hands are stained with the blood of Palestinians. For decades, Israel has been committing war crimes—flattening homes, silencing voices, and denying basic human rights to an entire population. And now, a Halal certification body dared to turn a blind eye to this, allowing their sacred seal to legitimize such a product. How could this be allowed?

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The Hypocrisy of Some Halal Certification Bodies

Halal is not just a dietary standard; it is a moral obligation. It is about what is permissible in the eyes of God—not just in terms of consumption, but in terms of ethics, justice, and integrity. It is inconceivable that any Halal certification body could overlook the source of these products, the factories that exist on stolen land, and the hands that profit from oppression and genocide.

How can a Halal seal—a marker of purity—be issued without questioning the company’s origins? Did they not know? Or worse, did they choose not to know? Either way, the failure is catastrophic. It is a betrayal of the trust placed in them by millions of Muslims who rely on these certifications to uphold the sanctity of their faith.

Complicity in Oppression

Let us be clear: granting Halal certification to an Israeli company is not a neutral act. It is complicity. It is a quiet nod of approval to an apartheid regime that has for decades bombed schools, hospitals, and homes; that has reduced Gaza to rubble and turned the West Bank into a patchwork of checkpoints and despair.

For any organization to stamp “Halal” on a product from such a source is to spit in the face of justice and to desecrate the very concept of Halal. This is not about bureaucracy or oversight; this is about a moral collapse—a prioritization of profit over principles.

To the Halal certification bodies responsible for this travesty: How dare you? How dare you ignore the suffering of Palestinians for the sake of a business transaction? How dare you allow your seal—a seal that represents trust, faith, and accountability—to whitewash the crimes of an occupying power?

The Muslim Ummah deserves better. We demand better. Certification bodies must be held accountable for their actions. They must vet every company, every product, and every supply chain, and ask themselves: Does this truly align with the principles of Halal? And if the answer is no, they must have the courage to say no even if they lose some money.

This is a wake-up call for all of us. We cannot blindly trust every Halal seal we see. We must demand transparency, integrity, and accountability. The responsibility does not end with the certifiers—it begins with us.

We must ask questions. We must investigate. We must ensure that our consumption aligns not only with what is Halal for our bodies but also with what is Halal for our souls. Supporting businesses complicit in oppression is not Halal. Turning a blind eye to the atrocities Israel has been committing against Palestinians for more than seven decades is not Halal. Silence in the face of injustice is not Halal.

Halal Must Mean More

If Halal certification bodies continue down this path, they risk eroding the trust of the very community they claim to serve. Halal must mean more than a dietary stamp—it must mean adherence to the principles of justice, fairness, and compassion that Islam stands for.

To the certifiers who stamped this Israeli company’s products: shame on you. To the organizations that enable such negligence: your actions will not go unnoticed. And to every Muslim consumer: let us stand together and demand accountability. Halal is not for sale, and neither is our dignity.