Boycott Israeli Goods (BIG) is holding an “International Day of Action” against Israeli beauty product company Ahava involving a boycott and demonstrations outside stores. It will be held on 19th September. Hmmm. Not only is this the Jewish Sabbath, it is also the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. I’ll give BIG the benefit of the doubt and assume this timing is just a massive coincidence.
Because if the timing is intentional, then this campaign is nothing but pure antisemitism both symbolically (a Jewish religious day rather than, say, a day of significance to the state of Israel) and in execution (no observant Jew will be able to counter the demonstrations by being present in the shop).
I urge all supporters of Israel to fight this ugly boycott by purchasing Ahava products as a response. Please do it: you get to support Israel and beat the bullies. The Ahava range is genuinely fantastic. Their products are available from their London store: 39 Monmouth Street , Covent Garden or at Selfridges, Jenner, Fenwicks Brent Cross together with other main stores, or available to buy online.
Go on, treat yourself or another!
(Thanks to Square Mile Wife and the Zionist Federation.)
Chas, you must be aware that almost every anti-Israel demo EVER is on a saturday, right?
Sure. And of course Saturday makes sense for demos generally.
But why Rosh Hashanah?
Well Chas, after reading your previous Ahava/Oxfam thread I went and bought TONS of Ahava products in the duty-free at BG. My brother-in-law thoroughly recommends the men’s moisturiser on Afro-Caribbean skin.
Please feel free, dear readers, to turn this into an Ahava beauty tip centre.
Sure friend. I like this blog very much. Very interesting…
Chas:
The boycotters deliberately select Jewish holiday dates for demonstrtions as they think that is a better way to get media attention. It seems to work as a rallying point for pro-boycotters, but from what I see here in Toronto, the pro-boycotters haven’t quite figured out that their attempts to demonize Israel are having unintended consequences. Back in April, there was a demo held outside of one of Toronto’s largest publicly owned liquor stores advocating a boycott of Israeli vintages to Jews wishing to purchase bottles of passover. The result, however, was for Israel’s admirers, Jewish and otherwise, to buy out the supply at that LCBO outlet and the next nearest. And this week past, we see another attempt to rally public opinion against Israel by protesting a special event at the Toronto International Film Festival, as the inaugural city for the City-to-City programming is Tel Aviv, because 1) there are lots of great entries about a city with a complex story to tell and 2) this year is the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv’s founding. The result of the boycott call: a sell-out of tickets to the event itself and far more condemnation in op-eds and letters to editors of the boycotters for decribing Israel as an apartheid state and claiming that Tel Aviv is “contested land” based on the ultimate annexation of lands as Tel Aviv grew and merged with Jaffa, an older city with a mixed Jewish/non-Jewish population.
Hmm.. I think Boycott Israeli Goods should merge with the Stop the Occupation and Boycott Israel Tourism campaigns to produce:
Boycott Israeli Goods, Occupation and Tourism.
(BIGOT).
Did you see the details of the counter demo held on Saturday? Pictures and info on Sqaure Mile Wife’s blog.
Thank you and well done to all involved!