UK: Co-operative Group members vote to ban Israeli products from supermarkets
Members of the Co-operative Group, one of the UK's biggest supermarket chains, have voted to remove Israeli products from its shelves over the ongoing attack on the Gaza Strip.
Around 73 percent of the consumer co-op's members supported the non-binding motion that called on the board to show 'moral courage and leadership' by banning Israeli products.
The motion cited a previous motion passed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to "boycott Russian products".
'We urge the 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," read the motion.
While the board is not obliged to implement the demands of the motion, it said it would take it into consideration as it reviewed the Co-op's sourcing policy.
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'We expect our review on the sourcing policy to complete towards the end of the summer," said a spokesperson for the board.
Abu Dhabi's Lulu supermarket complicit in settler colonialism in Kashmir, activists say Read More »
Campaigners with the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement have since 2005 called for consumers to boycott Israeli products until it complies with its obligations under international law.
Following the Hamas-led attack and Israel's bombing and invasion of Gaza in late 2023, the BDS movement has stepped up its calls over what it says is a genocide currently taking place in the enclave.
The health ministry said on Sunday the number of people killed in Gaza since the war began had reached 53,339, with 121,034 others wounded. More than 10,000 Palestinians are also missing and presumed dead.
There have been boycotts in many parts of the world against US companies over the country's support for Israel.
Pakistan's interior ministry said on Saturday that around 160 people had been arrested after groups of Palestine supporters carried out 20 separate attacks on KFC restaurants, with one employee shot dead.
Calls for boycott intensified after Israeli franchises of international brands, such as McDonald's and Pizza Hut, offered free meals to Israeli soldiers before the war on Gaza began.
Local franchises of such brands are usually operating on a licence basis, where a local company adopts the menu, uniforms, and branding of the company to sell to a local market.
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