Boycott "War On Want" which trashes Israeli goods in Waitrose

Notice the banners: "Boycott Israeli Goods".

Not just "Settlement Goods"

So much for Gordon Brown's protestation that the 'voluntary labelling' scheme for settlement goods would not encourage a full goods boycott.

He must go...........

So, OK, what if the Green Line is my Red Line, to quote Danny Levy? It's OK then to boycott settlement-made goods, while boosting the Israel proper economy. In that case, I don't see how labelling West Bank goods as such encourages a full boycott. Quite the opposite, since it shows which goods are made in Israel and which are made in its colonies.
Also. some Israeli firms, such as Barkan which makes Shamir hummus etc, get around this by giving an address in Israel, in Kiryat Ata, when they are actually based in Barkan, which is on the West Bank.

The ignorance of these people is beyond belief
Do they not realise they are damaging the Palestinian workers opportunity to earn a living in many cases.
Are they trashing the carnations that Israel has facilitated delivery of from Gaza.
Hopefully it could be arranged to have Gaza on the label as their place of origin
Do they operate boycotts of anywhere else in the world or just the Jewish state?
Their loutish behaviour plus the misinformation they distribute, put together with the fact that I'd like to know how many of them have actually been to Israel and the Palestinian Authority area to experience the reality, is to their great discredit
Are they being charged with trespass and asked to pay for the goods they displaced
And wasn't it wonderful to see how much produce was on display they they allege comes from the disputed territories. Well done Waitrose and more strength to you in resisting this type of disruption. I will make a point of going to your local store today to shop.
My only wish was that the police had been called from minute one and had made some arrests as these War on Want extremists clearly were creating public disorder

Joy, with respect, the Palestinians themselves have decided to boycott goods made in the Israeli colonies. They are even contemplating not helping build them. That's their choice and sometimes principles transcend economic betterment.
I personally will not buy goods made in China, and for years I didn't buy Chilean or South African goods. I know a lot of people who do the same.

If people choose to avoid buying goods of any country based on political reasons then it's a personal decision.

War on Want collect money donated in good faith which is intended to relieve suffering of the hungry and dispossessed. The fact that they spend those funds on such activities is shameful and disgusting.

Don't you just want to give the trolley-dolly who says "we are acting holistically" a good shaking........

I want to explain to her the error of her ways in a polite and respectful fashion :)

I'm afraid that charities like War on Want, Amnesty International, and even Oxfam, that have adopted blatantly political stances WRT Israel and the disputed territories, will end up offending a large number of their natural donors and will become irrelevant. I think that's a real shame due to the good work they do in other places around the world.

Are you advocating violence, Jonathan?

Well done Jonathan for publicising this ludicrous and outrageous action by War on Want. It's way past time they were investigated by the Charities Commission.

As you say, you want to shake to idiocy and complacency out of the trolley dollies, but they are being coached very well out of the proceeds of funds donated by a gulled public to an organisation that has a political agenda.

Out of curiosity, do you know which branch of Waitrose this happened in?

@cityca
Barbican - I wrote it in my piece

@matt
Amnesty isn't a charity

You can add Christian Aid and Save The Children though

This is the same old, same old crying wolf. And advocating violence at the same time.

http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2010/04/war-on-want-the-british-ch...

Solomonia has picked this up

I think the bigger issue here is that some Palestinians had their land stolen from them and the products from their farm land are being sold (by jewish settlers) in 'so-called' ethical stores hence the labelling, so that people can know not to participate in it, along with buying chocolate harvested by children in Africa....

Note that in the election campaign, no charity can support or oppose a political party or candidate. If it does so then it is breaking the rules for charities.

When did they express support or otherwise for a political party? Is this another straw man argument?

I have written to the Charities Commissioner about the activities of "war on want" as I believe they are in breach of a number of regulations that entitle them to charitable status.
I will post the reply from the Commissioner, when I receive it.

Yeah…that'll work. I wonder if the leader of a non-political Jewish communal organisation should be allowed to express an opinion for one party or another.

Look forward to reading that Jonathan.

So, mt2, we must assume that you support War On Wants actions in this regard.

Sorry, not Jonathan, but Jon. All these Jons are confusing and I've spent lunchtime in the pub.

Moshe you're an argumentative arse!

Matt, you must assume what you want, but that's not what I wrote. You shoulda stayed in the pub