Month: December 2016

Boycott Israeli Wines campaign targets another BC Gov’t. Liquor Store

Video of Dec. 17 In-Store Flash Action
The Boycott Israeli Wines campaign in Vancouver, Canada held another flash action and picket on Dec. 17, despite the unusually cold temperatures in the city. The activists initially went into the government liquor store, and showed real “holiday spirit” with their chants and singing. The manager of the store was made aware that the 3 brands of Israeli wines that are stocked there are all from stolen Arab and Palestinian land, thus rendering the BC Government complicit in human rights violations. One brand in particular, the Teperberg Vision Malbec, even openly brags on its website that the vineyard that contributes grapes for this wine is in the illegal Israeli settlement of Mevo Horon. This settler enclave is in the Latrun area of the occupied Palestinian West Bank and is also close to the infamous “Canada Park” built by the Jewish National Fund with Canadian tax-deductible monies.
The picket then moved outside of the store, where leaflets were handed out to many passersby. Palestinian flags flew high as more chants and singing happened on the busy street corner in one of Vancouver’s densest shopping areas.
Activists succeeded in getting their message out, both inside and outside the store, and their chant of Boycott Israeli Wine, Free Free Palestine was heard loud and clear!
Background information on this campaign can be found in this Palestine Chronicle article.

Letter hand-delivered to BC Liquor Board head office
Check out the video of the picket.
Friday Sep. 23, 2016 at 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Head Office, BC Liquor Distribution Branch, 2625 Rupert St, Vancouver, Canada
Join us for this important picket to send the message to the BC Government to stop carrying Israeli wines (most sourced from illegal Israeli settlements) and end their complicity in war crimes. Over the summer, several “surprise” pickets were already held at various BC liquor stores, including one at the beginning of August that included an instore flash action, the video of which has over 78,000 views on FB. Check out the Boycott Israeli Wines FB page for coverage of the last 2 actions and the sustained attacks by the Zionist lobby to try and shut us down.
Come out and help us defend and promote the BDS movement as well as our right to engage in all actions to support Palestine and the Palestinian people.
Facebook page.
Campaign history and background information here.

Please sign our new petition to the BC Government, calling on them to stop carrying Israeli Wines.

On August 6, there was a lively picket in Vancouver protesting the many BC Government liquor stores that carry Israeli wines and showing solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners. The video which has already been viewed over 79,000 times on Facebook shows highlights of the flash action inside the store. You can also check out our FB page for photos and videos of the leafletting that continued on outside the store.

Thanks to everyone who participated, especially the folks from Solidarity Notes and our piper.

This is a short video of the successful picket held to Boycott Israeli Wines on June 25th in Vancouver.

Please email us if you wish to be involved with this campaign and be on the call-out list for future actions.

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On the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, 8 years ago, the statement below was issued by Canada Palestine Association and other endorsing groups calling for a boycott of Israeli wines in BC liquor stores. This year, on the 68th anniversary, with BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) making great strides globally, BC liquor stores are regrettably still stuck in the past. In fact, not only are they still carrying wines from the occupied Golan Heights, but they have added several others sourced from the occupied West Bank, specifically the illegal Gush Etzion settlement bloc around Jerusalem. One in particular is called Efrat Judean Hills Kosher and is produced by the Teperberg 1870 Winery. This brand declares openly on its website that “Teperberg’s vineyards are spread around several growing regions in the Judean Hills, Upper Galilee, Gush Etzion….” More information on this winery and other Israeli wineries can be found in the exhaustive study done by “Who Profits” entitled Forbidden Fruit: Israeli Wine Industry and Occupation.
We are relaunching the Boycott Israeli Wines, Don’t Drink with Apartheid campaign; and we encourage everyone to let your local liquor store know that supporting occupation and Israeli war crimes is unethical. You can also email the head office at communications@bcldb.com. As we said 8 years ago, enough of dispossession, exile and the destruction of a whole nation. Please also send this message to our politicians as well to show them that we are not waiting for them to condemn us, rather we condemn their cowardly motion on Feb. 22, 2016 attacking BDS (and justice for Palestine) in the House of Commons.

Check out and like the FB page.

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Callout for original campaign – “BOYCOTT ISRAELI WINES”
On this 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the Israeli government has announced plans to “rebrand” its 60 years of dispossession and ethnic cleansing. Here in B.C., the focus of this “rebranding” is the promotion of wines under an Israeli label in B.C. liquor stores, which are now carrying products from the Galil Mountain Winery, the Golan Heights Winery and the Dalton Winery. The Golan Heights Winery (of which the Galil Winery is a joint venture) produces wines from grapes grown on occupied Arab land, and many of their wineries are located on occupied Syrian land in the Golan Heights. All of this is in direct contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention and stated Canadian policy. Nonetheless, successive Canadian governments have given Israel preferential trading status under the Canada Israel Free Trade Agreement, an agreement that financially enables the Israeli government’s oppressive policies and does not even attempt to distinguish products that are from illegal Israeli settlements. And BC liquor stores, when questioned as to their shameful actions, replied they “…offer products from around the world on a commercial demand basis.”
We say 60 years of “rebranding” is enough; 60 years of dispossession, exile and the destruction of a whole nation are enough. Send this message to the Israeli government, and to our local and national politicians. As the South African campaigners said many years ago outside BC liquor stores, then as now, DON’T DRINK WITH APARTHEID!
Endorsers of Original Campaign in 2008:
Al Dameer Association for Human Rights – Gaza, Palestine; Arab Cultural Forum – Gaza, Palestine; Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign (BIAC), Vancouver; Burnaby Teachers Association Social Justice Committee, Burnaby; Canada Palestine Association, Halifax; Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet); Canada Palestine Support Network-Ottawa; Canadian Arab Federation, Toronto; Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, Toronto; Free Gaza Movement; International Solidarity Movement ISM, Vancouver; Jews for a Just Peace; No One Is Illegal, Vancouver; NorCal ISM, California; Not In Our Name, Toronto; One Democratic State Group – Gaza, Palestine; Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU), Montreal; Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), Ramallah, Palestine; United Black Students at Ryerson, Ryerson University, Toronto; University Teachers’ Association – Gaza, Palestine; Women in Black, Los Angeles
(Check out our website’s BDS Hub for more info about this and other BDS-related activities and campaigns).