Tell the Co-op what you think of their boycott policy

Dear Renaud, Tell the Co-op what you think of their boycott  The Co-op has launched a survey which gives us a chance to protest against their boycott policy:http://www.haveyoursay.coop/   The Co-operative Group is the UK’s largest mutual business, owned not by private shareholders but by over six million consumers. It is the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, the leading convenience store operator and a major financial services provider, operating The Co-operative Bank, Britannia and The Co-operative Insurance. Among its other businesses are the number one funeral services provider and Britain’s largest farming operation.   In 2012 it introduced a policy of boycotting all the produce from four Israeli agricultural export companies. They said this was because these companies source some produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but the boycott extends to anything the companies sell, most of which is produced inside the pre-1967 Green Line.   The Co-op’s Human Rights and Trade Policy seems specifically drafted to target Israel. The only other produce they boycott is from Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. They do not have a boycott policy or take any other action against regimes where extreme human rights violations are taking place such as North Korea, Syria, Iran, China or Saudi Arabia.   Following the scandal that hit the Co-op Bank last year they have changed the Group’s senior management. The new management have initiated a large scale listening exercise, asking “people for their views on the future of the Group and the big issues facing communities across the UK.”   Anyone in the UK aged over 16 can participate in their online survey here:http://www.haveyoursay.coop/   The survey gives supporters of Israel an opportunity to re-open the question of the Co-op’s boycott policy.   Most of the questions – and there are many of them - are general ones but about ten questions in, the survey asks:   “What, if anything, should The Co-operative do to encourage more people to shop with it?”   We would encourage you to use this text box to say that you want them to drop their boycott of four Israeli companies and that this is discouraging people who support Israel from shopping with them. There is space to elaborate and explain why you dislike the policy. Points you could make (using your own words) include:   Boycotts don’t help bring peace as they divide people rather than bringing them together. The policy runs against co-operative values. The policy is discriminatory because it singles out Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, but ignores countries where there are extreme human rights abuses. Israel is a democracy with a proud history of co-operatives including the kibbutz movement, so it is a bizarre target for a boycott by the Co-op. The boycott policy is a clumsy and crass intervention in a complex conflict. The Co-op should not be picking sides in the Middle East conflict. The anti-Israel boycott movement is promoted by extremists who object to Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, including anti-semites, who the Co-op should not associate itself with. The long history of anti-semitic boycotts of Jewish businesses makes it a particularly offensive tactic to use against Israel. The Co-op could take constructive action instead, that would help peace, e.g. supporting projects that bring Israeli and Palestinian co-ops closer together.   On the next page it asks “Which three of these, if any, would be most likely to make you shop with The Co-operative Food more often?” Please tick “Other” and write words along the lines of “Dropping the Israel boycott policy”.   Please do let the Co-op know how you feel about their negative stance towards Israel. You can find the survey here: http://www.haveyoursay.coop/ Best wishes, Luke Akehurst Director, We Believe in Israel