The Co-operative Group in the UK goes to great lengths to clarify they do not boycott Israeli businesses – just those in the so-called “settlements.” (i.e Judea and Samaria)
While there are many disputed territories throughout the world, there are currently only two examples of such illegal areas: the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and the Moroccan settlements in Western Sahara.
On this basis, we do not source any produce or own-brand products from the Israeli settlements.
In April 2012, our Board determined that, going forward, we will additionally no longer engage with any supplier of produce known to be sourcing from the Israeli settlements.
We can categorically state that this position does not constitute a boycott of Israeli businesses. We remain committed to sourcing produce from and trading with Israeli suppliers that do not source from the settlements.
Unfortunately for the Co-op group, they fail to realize that lies catch up with them.
Robert Cohen, their head of executive external communications (yes, he seems to be Jewish) has been rather sloppy on social media. Here he is endorsing a boycott of Israel, and not just the so-called settlements:
Oops!
Not that this is surprising. Cohen has made clear his support for the boycott of Israel, even speaking this year at Israel Apartheid Week on the subject.
Note “It’s kosher to boycott Israel.” NOT “It’s kosher to boycott the settlements.”
He also mocks the idea of real antisemitism existing.
Which is funny – not as in “ha ha” but as in “you hypocrite!.” You see, Robert Cohen is an active member of the very antisemitic Right of Return 194 Facebook group.
I guess this and this are just a “principled stand”, eh Robert?
Did I mention that Robert opposes the very existence of the state of Israel?
So he’s clearly not “just” opposed to the settlements.
Ok, so you might ask “A Co-op big shot is against entire state of Israel. Should this implicate the Co-op itself?”
I am glad you asked. The answer is “Hell yeah.”
You see, the Co-op have also been rather sloppy. When Cohen tweeted his support for the BDS movement (which boycotts all of Israel) back in 2016
guess who liked his tweet
This is just the latest example of those supporting BDS being caught lying, and being implicated with antisemitism. It is no coincidence – they need to lie in order to advance their true agenda, which is the destruction of the state of Israel and NOT supporting a two-state solution as they often claim. And this almost always comes from a place of contempt for Jews and Judaism.
