‘Apartheid-free zone’ activists accused of ‘intimidating’ door-knocking campaign in Brighton

An Instagram post by the group says: “Let’s hit the genocidal ethnostate where it hurts most: in the pocket!”

Brighton and Hove Apartheid Free Zone (Credit: brightonafz/Instagram)[Missing Credit]

Eight teams of volunteers, each made up of two or three people, split up to knock on the doors of private homes, according to local resident Vicky Bhogal.

Bhogal, who founded the Brighton-based Jewish and Proud group, watched one of the groups “systematically go from household to household” with a clipboard and “checklist of addresses”, asking if people would commit to boycotting Israel.

She described it as a “campaign of intimidation that is next level.”

“It was insidious, and it was dangerous,” she told the JC, “They were finding out who has got Zionist leanings and who hasn’t, and where they live.”

The Brighton and Hove Apartheid Free Zone group goes door to door in Brighton asking people to sign their pledge to boycott the Jewish State (Credit: Vicky Bhogal/Jewish and Proud)[Missing Credit]

She alleged that the group planned, in time, to approach local businesses to demonstrate the level of apparent local support for the movement and to encourage them to stop stocking Israeli produce.

The group’s website confirms that it is “organising with our neighbours and local businesses” to boycott Israel.

The site encourages people to pledge a boycott in solidarity with the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction) movement, to enquire about volunteering with the group, and join a “door knocking session”.

The Brighton and Hove Apartheid Free Zone promotional material (Credit: Brightonafz/Instagram)[Missing Credit]

Following Saturday’s event, the group, which is supported by the Brighton Palestine Solidarity Campaign, claimed to have got 75 people to sign their pledge to boycott Israeli goods. The group says they will be out door knocking again soon.

Brighton and Hove Apartheid Free Zones has been approached for comment.