A random X-ray check of a suitcase by customs officers at Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday prevented the smuggling into Israel of a lemon tree sapling from Thailand infected with a bacterial disease that has decimated citrus groves across the US, Asia, Africa, and Brazil.

The suitcase was brought in by a passenger in his 70s from the central city of Holon.

Citrus greening, or Huanglongbing (HLB), is caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter, which attacks and develops within the vascular system (phloem) of the tree, eventually killing it.

Fruit on infected trees remains partly green, is oddly shaped, and tastes bitter. The incurable disease is estimated to cause $10 billion in crop losses annually.

The Agriculture Ministry’s Plant Protection and Inspection Services, and the citrus industry, are investing millions of shekels in a strategic defense plan to prevent the disease from entering Israel.

In 2022, the Asian citrus psyllid, which carries the disease, was identified in the Emek........

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