Does LEGO generally restrict the sale of LEGO sets in a country? I live in Israel where LEGO are available but for insane prices. Generally 5X the price of a LEGO set online. I have called LEGO asking to have a LEGO set shipped to me, and they have told me that they will not ship directly. When purchasing from online sites, they tell me they can not ship to Israel.

Is this common practice internationally?
The LEGO Online Store states that it can deliver to:


  Your LEGO® order can be shipped direct to you or a friend/relative in select countries within Europe and even to North America and Asia/Pacific.


The list of shipping locations includes:

I guess they have their reasons for not including Israel in that list - presumably it's either because of excessive handling/customs fees or shipping reliability - I'm guessing that's more the issue rather than other sites being told they can't send LEGO (specifically) to Israel.

I found a guide for eBay sellers planning on shipping to Israel written by a user here which talks more about the customs issues.