I am aware of people who have chosen to boycott settlement goods and yet who are clearly not anti-Israel, people who, for example, also actively ‘buycott’ both Palestinian and Israeli produce. It’s important to distinguish between such people and those who seem to have forced the departure of Ahava from Covent Garden. Ahava sells beauty products made with Dead Sea minerals, which are apparently produced in the West Bank settlement, Mitzpe Shalem. Its Covent Garden store has been the target of regular weekend protests (and counter demonstrations) for over a year. It was recently reported that the lease will not be renewed, apparently because the protests have damaged Ahava’s own trade and disrupted that of neighbouring stores.
The protests were clearly not driven simply by a wish to avoid products which originate from the West Bank, and which have been (it is asserted) mislabelled ‘Made in Israel’. Here London BDS juxtaposes news about Ahava with coverage of demonstrations in Tesco stores, unambiguously targeting Israeli as well as West Bank goods, and here’s another recent piece urging a cultural and academic boycott of Israel.
As demonstrated in a recent cross-post from Marc’s Words, those boycotting Ahava carry banners proclaiming ‘Boycott Israel’, produced by Inminds. For such people, a limited boycott of settlement produce is just the thin end of the wedge.
