Jewish Voice for Peace Statement Regarding the Olympia Food Co-Op Boycott of Israeli Goods
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) condemns the attacks against the recent decision by the Olympia Food Co-Op to boycott Israeli goods. We reject 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.
We defend the right of the Olympia Food Co-Op to use the full range of BDS tactics without being persecuted or demonized. We consider BDS a nonviolent response to the daily violence embodied in the occupation. Those that are protesting the Olympia Food Co-op for its decision to adopt BDS, should direct their energies to ending the injustices that stand as the root cause of BDS. We look forward to the day when the occupation will end and BDS will no longer be necessary.
The current co-op decision follows a long history of economic pressure campaigns used to press for and end of human rights violations, including the Indian boycott of British goods to protest British colonial rule, the Montgomery bus boycott to protest racial segregation, the grape boycott to protest farm workers' working conditions and low wages, and the South African boycott to protest the Apartheid regime.
The co-op itself has adopted a series of measure in the past, boycotting products from China (human rights abuses), Norway (whaling abuses), Colorado (anti-gay legislation), and more.
This boycott does not single out Israel. It singles out the injustices of the occupation. This boycott does not target Jews and is not anti-Semitic.
JVP's campaign work is focused on advocating for divestment from and boycotts of companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. This includes companies operating in or from occupied Palestinian territory, exploiting Palestinian labor and scarce environmental resources, providing materials or labor for settlements, or producing military or other equipment or materials used to violate human rights or to profit from the Occupation.