A status report is currently making the rounds that calls for a boycott against Israel. Specifically, this concerns products with a specific barcode number.

The text says:

Since you all have now stood up for the dog (which I really think is very good) shows me that you have heart and we should now also stand up for the people in Palestine and all over the world where people are oppressed and genocide is committed against them will begin. A start would be for us all to stop buying Israeli products that we use to finance the war in Palestine. Please pay attention to the following numbers in the barcode and you will know this product is from Israel!

A corresponding call is also shared as a chronicle photo.

The text of the graphic reads:

BOYCOTT ISRAEL – Avoid Products with Barcode starting 729
DANGER – Israeli products help fund the oppression and murder of Palestinians

Let's take a closer look.

This number is called the EAN code, the abbreviation for European Article Number . Every item sold in Europe must have such a number.

But what exactly do these numbers mean?

Let's just take a look at the authority that assigns these numbers worldwide, namely GS1 (Global Standards One).

We actually find what we're looking for on their site: the first three digits 729 stand for Israel!

So this status post is right?

Can we actually clearly identify products from Israel and therefore boycott them?

No, it's not that simple after all.

According to GS1, this so-called country prefix does not the country of manufacture , but rather the country code of the GS1 branch where this number was applied for... and this is by no means always the country of manufacture
(source: http://helpdesk.gs1.org/ArticleDetails. aspx?Barcodes&id=628314fb-343a-e211-992c-00155d644635)

A small example:

A company headquartered in South Africa has the country prefix 600, but their products are manufactured in England. However, these products still have the country prefix 600, whether manufactured in England or not.

Yes, but maybe most of the products were still made there, right?

That's exactly not the case , simply because Israel is not necessarily famous for its large industrial areas. In Israel, many products are only developed but not always manufactured.

These include, for example, Windows XP , many components of cell phones (first developed by Motorola Israel), various Pentium processors, and even many commercially available medications were developed in Israel.

The products that were and are developed there all have the country prefix 729 .

Based on these small examples alone, it can be seen that a boycott of goods with this number makes little sense.

Incidentally, status reports and emails with this topic have been doing the rounds since 2008, with optional boycotts against products from Israel, China, Russia, etc.

But technical misinformation, which continues to spread, followed by boycotts, will unfortunately not be able to prevent war.

Conclusion:

Israel is therefore only the headquarters of the GS1 branch but not the country of manufacture.
The first three digits of the EAN number only to the headquarters of the GS1 branch, not necessarily the country of manufacture of a product. A boycott of these products would be largely ineffective.

ZDDK guest author: Ralf Nowotny

Ralf Nowotny, 42 years old, “IT guy”, currently mainly working on cleaning customer computers of viruses, malware and ransomware in a small company