AN Indian firm said it will terminate a longstanding contract to make uniforms for the Israeli police, as it made a “moral decision” in light of the war in Gaza.
Maryan Apparel in Kerala state said it had supplied around 100,000 uniforms to Israel’s police force for every year since 2015.
“It is a moral decision,” the company’s managing director Thomas Olickal said last Friday (20).
Olickal said in statement last Wednesday (18) that a strike on a hospital and the “loss of thousands of innocent lives” in the conflict had prompted the decision.
Israelis and Palestinians traded blame for last Tuesday’s (17) deadly strike on the Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City.
Olickal said his firm will fulfil its existing commitments to Israel, which end in December, but will not take new orders.
“We are okay resuming business with them after peace is restored,” added Olickal, who employs around 1,500 people at his firm.
The company has also supplied uniforms to the Philippine Army and to government officials in Saudi Arabia.
