The Co-op supermarket chain could stop selling Israeli products as early as this summer, following a member vote in favor of a boycott, The Telegraph reported on Saturday. Roughly 75% of the members supported a motion calling on the board to demonstrate “moral courage and leadership” by removing Israeli goods from store shelves.
In response, the Co-op leadership noted at its annual general meeting that the motion is only advisory, but confirmed that a review of its sourcing policy is underway.
The Co-op is a UK-based supermarket chain and the retail food arm of The Co-operative Group, one of the largest consumer co-operatives in the world. As the fifth largest food retailer in the UK, the Co-op operates nearly 2,400 stores and supplies products to over 6,000 additional outlets through its wholesale division, Nisa Retail Limited.
Owned by millions of UK consumers, the Co-op employs around 56,000 people and reports an annual turnover exceeding £11 billion. The organization is also widely recognized for its commitment to social responsibility and community initiatives.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), a voluntary organization of legal professionals, responded to the Co-op group secretary’s announcement, saying the motion should be withdrawn by the Co-op Council and treated as invalid and disregarded.
UKLFI’s letter contends that motion 13 is both defamatory of Israel, Israelis, and Jews associated with Israel, and would adversely impact or diminish confidence in the Co-Op Group. Its Council should therefore discontinue its approval of this motion.
Lewis Backon, of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, welcomed the result, saying it reflected members’ refusal to support what it called Israel’s “apartheid economy.”
He said the motion must be implemented, since “The Co-op AGM vote shows ordinary people in this country are committed to the cause of justice and freedom for Palestine in their everyday lives and refuse to support Israel’s apartheid economy. The Co-op must now listen to its members and implement the motion by taking all Israeli goods off the shelves.”
The motion, proposed last month, urged the Co-op to cease all trade with Israel, accusing the Jewish State of having “completely destroyed Gaza.” It also referenced the Co-op’s decision in March 2022 to boycott Russian products, and called on the company to apply the same “ethical principles and values” in its approach to Israel.
As is usually the case with such proposals, there was no mention of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, atrocities, which led to the Israeli attack, nor was there a reference to the 58 Israeli hostages, dead and alive, still in Hamas captivity.
The UKLFI cites 7 false statements in the motion:
- The motion claims that by July 2024, at least 186,000 Gazans, mainly women and children, had died as a result of the bombing, destruction of health facilities, and denial of essential aid,” citing the Lancet. The item in the Lancet – a letter which was not peer reviewed – does not say 186,000 Gazans had died. It suggests speculatively that 186,000 may eventually die indirectly as a result of the conflict. This projection lacks any solid foundation and is implausible.
- The motion’s claim that the Gazans killed were mainly women and children is false. Even the Hamas Ministry of Health now says less than 50% of the “martyrs” were women and children. Moreover, “children” include teenagers up to 18, and many male teenagers are recruited by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. 65% of deaths of those aged 13 to 17 were male; many of them were probably combatants.
- A substantial proportion, probably nearing half of the Gazans killed in the war, were participating in armed combat with the Israeli forces. The ratio of civilians to combatants is far lower than normal in urban armed conflict around the world.
- In addition, a significant number of Gazans have probably been killed by Palestinian fire, including rockets targeting Israeli communities that fell short in Gaza.
- The motion compares Israel’s efforts to remove Hamas and recover the hostages with Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. This ignores the fact that the war in Gaza started after the barbaric attack on Israel by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 October 2023, including murdering, raping, burning alive and kidnapping residents of peaceful communities in the south of Israel, and threats to repeat this again and again.
- The motion falsely states that “The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel has a ‘plausible case to answer’ for genocide”, when the court made no such ruling.
- The allegations that “Israel has invaded the sovereign nations of Lebanon and Syria” are also misleading. Israel has responded to the bombardment of its communities from these countries.
Jonathan Turner, UKLFI Chief Executive, said: “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 Israelis and Jews who are associated with the only Jewish State.”
