The Co-op supermarket chain is to consider whether to stop selling any Israeli products, after a vote at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting saw almost three quarters of representatives backing a boycott.
The non-binding motion at the AGM called on the organisation’s Board to “show moral courage and leadership, apply the same ethical principles and values it did to Russia, and take all Israeli products off the shelves.”
A Board response to the member’s motion in the AGM handbook noted that “the nature of international food supply chains means that it is very often impossible, impractical or unsafe to stop sourcing products entirely from specific countries…Following the invasion of Ukraine, we stopped ranging products which were self evidently from Russia like Russian Standard Vodka. We did not stop sourcing all products from Russia and would not have been able to do so due to the international food supply chain complexities noted above.”
The response went on to say that “our Co-op has always advocated for building peace through co-operation”. It made no recommendation to members whether to support the motion or not.
Earlier this month, the UK Lawyers for Israel group wrote to the Co-op, requesting that the motion “should be withdrawn by the Co-Op Council. If it is wrongly allowed to proceed and is passed, it should be treated as invalid and disregarded.” Jonathan Turner, Chief Executive of UKLFI, stated that “Ceasing all trade with Israel, as proposed in the motion, while continuing to trade with many other countries involved in armed conflicts or engaging in very serious violations of human rights, would constitute racist discrimination against Israel. Passing this motion and giving effect to it would endorse its false and defamatory allegations against Israel, inciting hatred against Israeli and Jews who are associated with the only Jewish State.”
The Manchester-based consumer co-operative has not sourced products from the West Bank since 2007, in response to a motion which was passed by its members at the time. In response, many members of the UK Jewish community have since avoided shopping in the Co-op supermarkets.
The Co-op has been contacted for comment.
