Crisis at the Co-op – please join our campaign to get their new Chair to drop their anti-Israel boycott

Dear Renaud,

Crisis at the Co-op - please join our campaign to get their new Chair to drop their anti-Israel boycott 

I am sure you will have seen the extensive media coverage of the crisis afflicting the Co-op Group. Following the rescue of the Co-op Bank by private investors and the personal scandal about the Bank’s former Chairman Rev Paul Flowers, Co-op Group Chairman Len Wardle has resigned. He has been replaced by Ursula Lidbetter. Before resigning he set in place a major review of how the Co-op Group is run.
 
This presents us with an opportunity to re-open the question of the Co-op’s boycott of four Israeli companies. The boycott policy was decided by a Group Board which included the now discredited Rev Flowers. Given the Board’s flawed judgement calls on the Bank (a decision to merge with the Britannia Building Society meant that the Co-op Bank inherited loss-making loans that brought it near to collapse)  its other decisions ought to be questioned. The Group Board’s decision on the boycott was in part an attempt to appease pressure from extremist anti-Israel activists, without consulting the wider Co-op customer membership. This isn’t a sensible way for a major company to take decisions and we would hope the governance review will tackle this aspect of their decision-making.
 
Please can you write a hard-copy letter to the new Chair at this address?
 
Ursula Lidbetter
Chair, Co-Op Group
1 Angel Square
Manchester
M60 0AG
 
Please use your own words and state if you are a Co-op member or customer. Points you should make in the letter are:
 
·         The Co-op Group’s boycott of four Israeli companies was a product of their old, discredited decision-making process and should therefore be reviewed as part of that wider review process. There is no evidence that the boycott was supported by ordinary Co-op customer members.
·         The situation in the Middle East has changed since the boycott was introduced. In the context of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks a boycott of one side is particularly inappropriate.
·         Boycotts of Israeli companies and produce are divisive, working against peace, demonising one side and giving comfort to those who promote continuing conflict and violence.
·         The Co-op policy has alienated many current and potential customers who feel an affinity with Israel.
·         By focussing on the question of a territorial dispute, the Co-op’s policy unfairly singles out the only democracy in the Middle East for censure and confrontation while giving a free pass to surrounding undemocratic regimes which commit repeated and extreme human rights abuses.
 ·         The Co-op could play a more positive role by working with the Israeli and Palestinian co-op movements to foster economic engagement and joint projects that build confidence and trust between the two peoples.

There is a briefing note about the Co-op’s boycott here: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/4f205ffabc02c1048c024eebe/files/Briefing_re_coop_boycott.docx
 
Please send a copy of any letter you send and any reply you receive to me atluke@webeliveinisrael.org.uk.
 
If you want to take the campaign one step further, Steven Jaffe at the Board of Deputies is organising a rolling programme of local petitions against the boycott in communities around the country, which are delivered to local Co-op stores and publicised in the local press. Please email me if you could help organise a local petition in your area. To understand the effectiveness of this, here’s what activists from Wimbledon Reform Synagogue have reported about delivering a petition yesterday to the Co-op store in Roehampton:
 
“Today [we] delivered our petition with 56 signatures to the Roehampton store manager. Our mission started with the photo opportunity with a photographer from Wandsworth Guardian taking lots of pics of the three of us and our petitions and cover letter with the Co-op as the backdrop. ... the manager ... was very interested in what we had to say and took a number of booklets about Israel and the West Bank so that he could understand the issue. He took the petitions with the cover letter ...  and said he would discuss it with his area manager and other Co-op managers before forwarding it to Head Office. So we believe it was a successful delivery – it was clear that the store manager knew little about the boycott and possibly even less about Israel and the Palestinians but was willing to take an interest and was impressed by our concerns. Hopefully we will follow up the momentum with deliveries of petitions to other local stores.”

Israeli students visit Belfast

April 2013: The Teachers Union of Ireland urged its members to ban Israeli students from educational exchanges.

November 2013: Over 350 people gathered in Belfast to welcome two Israeli students and call for inclusivity and dialogue - not exclusion and boycott.
 
Here is a short video from the organisers, Northern Ireland Friends of Israel, of the meeting where they spoke: http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=30144213&msgid=670128&act=QOE6&c=520075&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DywbdtJNtVao

Rita Concert

We wanted to remind you about the London concert, “Tunes for Peace”, being performed by Rita, Israel’s biggest singing star, on Thursday 12 December. Details are here: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/4f205ffabc02c1048c024eebe/files/Rita_Flyer_Eng.pdf

"Shall We Dance" - Israeli play

Another great piece of Israeli culture you can support is the award winning Israeli play “Shall We Dance” which opens on 8 December. Details of the venues where this New End Theatre Beyond production will be staged and booking details are here: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/4f205ffabc02c1048c024eebe/images/SWD_leaflet_doubleup.jpg

Essential Reading

If you haven’t already read them, the latest edition of Fathom, the quarterly journal about Israel, is online here: http://www.fathomjournal.org/category/issue-4/ and the newly updated BICOM FAQs about Israel are online here:http://www.bicom.org.uk/resources/faqs/

Best wishes,


Luke Akehurst
Director, We Believe in Israel