Since the Olympia Food Co-op decided to boycott Israeli goods – and become the first grocery store in the US to take this courageous step for justice – support has been pouring in locally, nationally, and globally. A large thank you to everyone who has gone out of their way to support our Co-op!
Supporters of the Co-op Boycott of Israeli Goods outside the Eastside store.
In a statement of support of the boycott, Palestinian Civil Society says that “while Israel continues to ravage Palestinian livelihoods with full impunity the Olympia Food Co-op’s decision to boycott Israeli products presents a moral, effective and timely response that promises, if emulated across the US, to significantly challenge Israel’s criminal impunity, furthering the chances for respect for human rights and a measure of justice for the Palestinians.”
2235 people (and counting…) have signed the petition in support of our Co-op. See the signatures from all over the world!
Local community members such as TJ Johnson, Monica Peabody, Muhammad Ayub, Nomy Lamm, Cindy Corrie, and Calvin Johnson have all endorsed the Co-op’s decision to boycott Israeli goods, and are echoed by prominent national figures: Naomi Klein, Richard Falk, Colonel Ann Wright, Anthony Arnove, Paul Kivel, and Cindy Sheehan.
Several organizations and individuals from the global Jewish community have signed an international statement of support. Also, before the boycott was passed, members of our local Jewish community spoke out in support:
“We reject the notion that Jewish identity necessitates unconditional support for the government of Israel and for its human rights abuses. This expectation is particularly egregious when it is invoked to obstruct genuine attempts at peace and justice, confining the matter to a ‘Jewish’ affair rather than honoring our commitments to universal human rights and public accountability.”
Jewish Voice for Peace has also condemned the attacks on the Co-op, rejecting “the assertion that Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) are inherently anti-Semitic, and we encourage discussion both within our own community and outside of it of the growing BDS movement.”
Many Co-op members showed up at the Eastside store this weekend with signs saying “I love the Co-op” and “Support the boycott”.
Richard Falk, peace prize nominee 2008-2010, says “[w]hen the UN and governments, most notably our own, fail to uphold basic rules of international humanitarian law and bring suffering to people anywhere, then there exists a human responsibility to act in solidarity. The Palestinians have been abused, and suffered for far too long, waiting futilely for their most fundamental rights to be respected.”
Cindy Sheehan, peace activist and mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan (KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04), says that “BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] are a peaceful way of confronting state-sanctioned and perpetrated violence.”
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK, “applaud the Olympia Food Coop’s decision to take a stand for a just and equitable Middle East peace by acting on Palestinian Civil Society’s call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. Cooperatives are inherently democratic organizations, and the Olympia Food Coop has shown that it is willing to work against the undemocratic apartheid system and occupation that strips Palestinians of their right to self-determination.”
Cindy Corrie, mother of Rachel Corrie who died in Gaza in 2003 while defending a home about to be demolished, says: “It is right for citizens of the world to act and to signal that we will not continue to tolerate this outrage that has brought such pain and grief to so many for so long. Step by step, action by action, we must build support for justice and equality for all in Israel/Palestine — support that government leaders will not be able to dismiss.”
Has your organization still not taken a stand in support of the Olympia Food Co-op’s recently instituted boycott of Israeli goods? Now is the time to do so! Send us an email at contact@olympiabds.org.
