I had the misfortune (on a recent trip to South Africa) to be the focus of one of these cart salespeople while walking through a mall in Cape Town. The saleswoman tried every trick in the book (including lying) to get me to buy the products. She nearly fell over when I announced in Hebrew I could buy her products for a third of the price back in Israel!

hiring the Israeli youth who, I'm sure are not making a lot of money peddling the Dead Sea stuff in the US malls. Hiring illegal aliens is against the law in the US. So why these young people's employer(s), without a doubt some Israeli sleazeball, are not being arrested?

Dead Sea products here in Israel are not always sold in the finest department stores in Israel, but at Kiosks, and in shuks. The malls in the States are actually full of nice department stores. The stalls the Israelis run have to fit very stringent rules and are charged a high price to be there. The stalls are actually very nice, classy, and the workers have to adhere to a strict dress code laid down by the malls. Many Israelis legally raise enough money to travel and to pay for their University here. There is no shame in that. Danny Ayalon may be right about illegal workers, but as far as embarrassing Israel, when working legally, he should do some researchl.

......which are an embarrassment in themselves. Sales from carts is standard practise in shopping malls the world over and there really is no reason why Dead Sea products should be sold only in department stores. The problem lies with the legality of the process as while the carts themselves are usually legal and are required to operate within some stringent local guidelines, the workers may sometimes be working illegally. Having said that, one of the main companies which recruits Israeli youth to work on the carts insists on them having a valid work permit for the country they are working in, to protect themselves and the company. A prime example of this is New Zealand and Australia where it is difficult to get a work permit but much easier if you have a European Union passport as well as your Israeli one.

If they break the law they deserve to be punished. End of story!

The article is talking about illegal stalls. If the seller applies for, and receives, a license to operate his stall, there is nothing wrong with that.

So I see that now you claim speak for America. Interesting. First you talk about how Pollard should "die in jail", since "Americans don't like traitors": And now you show great concern over America's emplyment laws. Needless to say of course, that in both cases the only reason for your sudden surge of American patriotism, is the fact that these are good opportunities for you to spew hatred and venom toward Israel. And this makes you a lame hypocrite. Of course, you are welcome to prove me wrong and prove your American patriotism is 100% genuine and sincere, by supporting America's sanction efforts against Iran, and its efforts to rid Lebanon of Hizbullah. What do you say?

When talking about legal operations, Great! Israeli kids see the world while working for minimum wage in some crappy mall in the Midwest. Why not? But Israel is judged by a harsher standard than any other nation on Earth. Anyone remember the small town in Utah rounding up Israelis selling art a few months ago? What other nation would get international press for a handful of booth vendors behaving "suspiciously" Anything the foreign ministry can do to curb the scrutiny of other nations by saying "If this is illegal, don't do it we won't rescue you" is a valid point.

...One can only be amazed by the lack of knowledge by the comment; If these salesmen/-women had obtained a license (which is an very easy license to obtain, and the laws on this are not at all "stringent" as #4 says), paid import tax for the goods they intend to sell and a applied for a working visa (instead of a tourist visa) to sell these goods, and paid sales-tax... They wouldn't had been arrested, and it would all be legal.... the failure to do so, makes it illegal...

I had the misfortune to encounter Israelis in the UK trying to pedal paintings under highly abusive conditions, they were clearly being abused by their employer by low pay and bad living conditions. Israeli soldiers who are just about to leave the army must be told not to engage in such enterprises for their own well being. Heaven forbid that they should end up penniless in a foreign land with a criminal conviction and the only option for returning home is to get deported.

strict hard fast and expelled out from the USA never to return! Now why can't we do that with all of the illegal immigrant workers here in Israel?

they will make their fortune..these kids run to America after their army service and thinking that America's streets are paved with gold. Ask any local Chabadnik in America Canada how many of these dumb kids end up in jail, crying for their imma when they get caught doing all kinds of foyle shtick. In Israel the courts show rachmonus, in America they dont. What you education system doesn't teach these kids is that being a Jew in the golus is tough and you better watch your place or you may end up having your head handed to you. The goyim will show you no mercy if you are caught. and the Jews will drop you like a hot potato.

The problem is the Israeli government should start paying higher salaries and encouraging the private sector to do so as well. How come a teacher or a policemen in the US makes 3 times as much? Look at the home prices in Israel, The prices of cars, McDonald's and everything. It is almost 3 times the price as in the US for half the quality. I am far from an economist but the cost of living and the salary's are too far apart and that is why these young kids travel abroad to work 7 days a week making a salary equivalent of an engineer's salary in Israel give or take a few. The Israeli government should stop over taxing its citizens and start looking at more tax breaks starting with cars. Risk are always taken where there is money to be made ie., CROOKED CORRUPT POLITICIANS.

There were many Israelis selling here in previous years.It is also illegal here for a business to employ illegals to work for them.The stalls have to be legal here and fit in with the strict rules of the shopping mall.My only objection to these stalls is the people selling the products , they were so aggressive in their sales techniques .I think people must have complained about this because haven't seen them for a long time.

So, some jobless schmock who is trying to make few bucks is hurting Israel's reputation not the politician who gave the order to drop cluster, depleted uranium or phosphorus bombs on civilians or the one who's denying it ?,...

Right here in good ole Israel youth are working freelyfor a certain period under the pretext that they are not working while they are being "trained". Not on the black market, or out on the street, but in our very respectable restaurants. Factory workers are required to work 11-13 hour days and Fridays every week. Maybe the difference here is that no one sees it but us. But I am very embarrassed about the government turning a blind eye to this.

someone said brainwashing and the lure of fast money ...I say they share a common intrest and local law enforcement knew it ....they sell more than dead sea lotion and nail polish shtuff ...its stuff that makes you feel real good as one said you will be the king of your time .

Or the glass house you live in would shatter. Wikileaks rings a bell?

If the law is being broken on purpose and warnings are not heeded, then those who participate in this folly should not receive benefits or protection from the Israeli govt. I, as a taxpayer, am upset at the constant waste in trying to get this generation of self-righteous youth full of entitlement without obligations out of trouble they knowingly get themselves into. You want adventure - you have it. Stop crying.

There are a ton of foreign youth from all over Europe, Asia, and Latin America that work illegally in the US to get some spending money while on a several-month visa. The fact that Israeli youth would be targeted for recrimination by posters like PCAT while German, Russian, and Argentinian youth are ignored for the same act, is simply an act of rabid racism.

The law Israel followed in time of war in use of phosphorous bombs and cluster bombs was not broken. Israel followed the Intl law to the letter, as noted by groups such as Amnesty Intl, ICRC, and the UN regarding the use of such munitions. It is simply the court of public opinion that has a problem with it, and those I say - if you are upset, go and work to change the law. If you're upset at a speed limit on your highway, the solution isn't trying to abuse the drivers who follow the speed limit. Get it?

I am surely not averse to criticizing Israel's policies vis a vis ethnic exclusion. However, Israelis, selling Dead Sea Salts, in mall carts, just adds to the variety and cosmopolitanism of our cities. Carts operated by people of different ethnicities keep us from dying of blandness and sameness. As far as documentation goes. Most Americans, at least on the west coast, know , from childhood, that many of our neighbors and merchants may not have perfect paperwork. Hey if the manufacturers can travel at will to find cheap labor in countries they prefer, why can't the workers travel freely to make a living in a place that they prefer??? I smell a hidden agenda here of keeping the Israelis at home with their own kind. This kind of thinking should have died with "Westside Story". Israelis are more than welcome here....and we don't consider them "yordim" like many in Israel do.

"Rabbi: assimilation is 'biggest threat' to Jewish people" ,... http://www.ejpress.org/article/35149

How do you and the Israeli Foreign minister feel about cultural integration? As your hyperlink indicates, our youth are "underwhelmed" by organized religion and show disdain for separatism. How do you feel about their preference to root for Romeo and Juliet and not the couple's parents? Keeping Romeo and Juliet locked in their separate homes has failed....now what are you going to do??? Destroy their cart at the mall???....refuse them a passport until they are 60? This is not really about mall carts at all.....is it???????

This is about someone employing young and hungry Israelis in violation of their tourist/student visas in the US. Why are you bringing "Roemo and Juliet" and their parents into this? I doubt if you really get what this is all about. You seem to want to argue for the sake of arguing.