He added: “Winning campaigns is about hearts and minds, knocking on doors, winning them over and then we end up expanding the boycott.”
Last week, SAFZ campaigners were filmed canvassing homes in the south of Sheffield, asking residents whether they supported the boycott and noting down replies.
A poster called on anyone with a spare hour to join the Woodseats doorknocking (Photo: X)[Missing Credit]
The campaign was advertised on social media, with organisers urging activists with “an hour spare” to take part in door-knocking sessions to question locals about their stance on the Israel. It follows a similar campaign in Brighton.
Footage of the Sheffield action shared online shows a campaigner wearing a knitted watermelon hat, red raincoat and fleece knocking on doors.
When challenged by Jean Hatchet, a feminist activist from the area who filmed the group and accused them of conducting “a Jew hunt”, the man replied: “I am only asking people to boycott Israeli goods,” adding that some residents respond “yes, some of them say no, some of them say I will think about it.”
When asked by Hatchet what the group was doing with that information, he said: “We’re taking note of doors we’ve knocked on,” and noting down “no answer, not interested, or supportive.”
One of the canvassers on a Sheffield street (Photo: X)[Missing Credit]
The man suggested this was so the group did not revisit houses they had already canvassed.
The door-knocking session ended after around 15 minutes as protesters followed the group along a residential street, shouting “Jew hunt coming”, carrying a sign that read: “No tolerance for antisemitism.”
Last October, two Sheffield activists wrote that the initiative had been inspired by a similar campaign in Bristol, and activists were knocking on doors each week asking residents to sign a pledge “committing to boycott any produce from Israel”.
Supporters were asked to add their names to an open letter to local shops and businesses stating they would not purchase Israeli goods and requesting shops to stop selling such products.
In October, the group had reportedly collected more than 800 signatures, and 21 shops had pledged to “boycott Israeli produce”.
Activists on the doorstep in Sheffield last July (Photo: Instagram)[Missing Credit]
Meanwhile, in Bristol, a similar online pledge has attracted 5,300 signatures and support from 87 vendors.
The initiatives form part of the Apartheid Free Zone campaign spearheaded by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDC).
Vicky Bhogal, who founded the Brighton-based Jewish and Proud group, told the JC the activity in the city was a “campaign of intimidation that is next level”.
The Green Party’s former leader, Carla Denyer, expressed support for the Brighton campaign group in a social media video in December last year.
Elsewhere in London, activists launched a campaign in Hackney calling for the borough to become a “Zionist Free Zone”.
A similar poster was created for households and businesses in Hackney (Photo: Facebook)[Missing Credit]
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the JC: "Going door to door to intimidate people into agreeing to boycott Israel – the world’s only Jewish state – is dark and sinister. This kind of intimidation has no place in the UK."
A spokesperson for the Green Party said that its “commitment to peace, justice and freedom for Palestinians is well known and sits alongside our strong opposition to antisemitism and support for community unity and cohesion.
They added: “It is no surprise therefore that our MPs are taking action in support of Palestinians in their constituencies, alongside meeting and listening to the Jewish community and all faith communities in the city."
Jeremy Corbyn and Sheffield Uniting Against Israeli Apartheid were approached for comment.
Jeremy Corbyn said he supported the Sheffield campaign against 'apartheid' (Photo: Instagram)[Missing Credit]