Boycott stickers cropping up on Israeli products throughout Canada
Published March 20, 2016
TORONTO (JTA) — More stickers advising consumers not to buy products made in Israel are popping up all over Canada.
The stickers in recent weeks were affixed to bottles of Israeli wine in Vancouver, British Columbia and to grocery products in Calgary, Alberta.
Both affected corporations removed the labels and vowed increased vigilance.
Facebook posts now show the stickers on Sabra Hummus, Keter and Sodastream products, Glutino biscuits, dates and tangerines at grocers and hardware stores in Montreal, Winnipeg, Hamilton and Brampton, Ont., and other towns in British Columbia.
“Warning!” the stickers state. “Do not by this product. Made in Israel: A country violating international law, the 4th Geneva Convention, and fundamental human rights…#BDS.”
The labels are being distributed free of charge by the Montreal-based Canadians for Justice & Peace in the Middle East, or CJPME, which launched the sticker campaign after Canada’s House of Commons voted last month to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, campaign against Israel.
“CJPME was specifically cited in the parliamentary motion targeting organizations supporting economic action against Israel, and CJPME has launched its new campaign in response,” the group said on its website.
It is urging activists to post Facebook pictures of the labels stuck on products.
The Jewish Defence League of Canada has written to the federal minister of public safety, Ralph Goodale, that “conspiring with other groups and persons to willfully damage business premises and impeding people from carrying on normal business…must be stopped.”
The JDL said it has also brought the matter to the attention of the Canada Revenue Agency. The CJPME has a charitable arm, the CJPME Foundation, which is registered as a federal charity that issues tax receipts for donations and lists the same address as the CJPME.
