Stay connected and informed to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
Recently, Lululemon opened its first store in Israel and apparently has plans to open seven more. Zionists seem to be excited, and even the Israeli consulate general in Toronto posted about the opening. It would seem nothing dresses up apartheid like yoga leggings!
Samidoun report: Vancouver demonstration demands boycott of “Israeli” wines, freedom for Palestinian prisoners
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BC Liquor Store 1108 Pacific Blvd. (Yaletown) Vancouver
Saturday, April 1, 2 pm
FB event page: Boycott Israeli Wines/Commemorate Palestinian Land Day
(Cover photo by Michael YC Tseng)
Join us to mark Palestinian Land Day and call out the BC Government and corporations complicit in war crimes profiteering off Israeli apartheid wines.
Major international and Israeli human right groups, including Amnesty International, have determined that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. Yet the BC government insists to carry Israeli wines in publicly owned BC liquor stores, even though most are linked to the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise.
The wines in question are either from the Golan Heights Winery and its joint venture the Galil Winery; or from the Israeli Teperberg Winery, which proudly displays a map on its website showing vineyards in occupied Palestinian territory.
More info: https://cpavancouver.org/boycottisraeliwines-campaign/
Event by Canada Palestine Association, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Vancouver and BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories
This event is taking place on the unceded and occupied territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. The organizers stand in full solidarity and support of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination and with the ongoing movements to defend land, water and Indigenous peoples from plunder and settler colonialism.
New Action Alert Letter Campaign:
Tell International Cellars to Stop Profiting off Israeli War Crimes – Action Network
The import and sale of Israeli wines in provincial liquor stores across Canada is a microcosm of how apartheid maintains “business as usual”, despite changing political conditions. The war crimes profiteering from the sale of Israeli products has been tracked for many years in BC by #BoycottIsraeliWine campaigners.
Much of the focus has been on the illegal Israeli settlements, be they in the occupied West Bank or annexed Golan, and on the successive provincial and federal governments complicit in legitimizing this plunder of stolen Palestinian natural resources. However, there is also corporate complicity involving the wine distributors that bring the fruits of colonization to local liquor store shelves.
Most Israeli wine distributed to all of Canada’s four western provinces comes through one Vancouver-based company, International Cellars Inc. They promote wines from the Golan Heights Winery and its joint venture, Galil Mountain Winery, as well as the Teperberg 1870 Winery (which openly shows its vineyards in occupied Palestinian territory on its website). In 2007, they launched several Israeli wines in BC government liquor stores under the condition that there would be a separate “Israeli” section; principal director, Norman Gladstone, stated at the time that the BC Liquor Distribution Board (BCLDB) approached him about the project and were very “supportive”. “Normally, it is up to a company like International Cellars to go into each and every liquor store to get them to sell their wines, but, because the BCLDB is so supportive of this venture, ‘the liquor board is doing an initial introduction to 23 stores and our [International Cellars’] sales staff are going out to get it into more stores as well,’ said Gladstone.”
A look at International Cellars wines from other countries brought forth this gem: one of their partner Chilean wineries is owned by the founder of the Golan Heights Winery, Shimshon Welner. Welner Wines website in its “our story” section, proudly shows photos of Welner with former Israeli leaders including Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.
After seeing the hypocrisy of the BC NDP government last year in rushing to pull Russian liquor products off store shelves in just 2 days, while refusing for 14 years to deal with Israeli apartheid wines, it is clear the BC government always was, and is, a full partner in this travesty. A travesty that spans multiple provincial governments, from the Liberals in 2007 to the Horgan NDP government to the current one under Premier David Eby, all promoting the same policy of enabling Israeli war crimes. And anyone who thought that the NDP would take a different stance once in power was sorely disappointed, even though their official party policy is now committed to end “all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine”.
Palestinian activists will continue to highlight and hold accountable all those involved in this infamous chain of war crimes profiteering, who play a part in the dispossession and usurpation of Palestine, its natural resources, and its people. Palestinian blood is on all their hands.
(This statement was also published in Mondoweiss)
Great photos from our picket/instore flash action: #BoycottIsraeliWines #NoIHRA
Join local groups in Vancouver to mark the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People with a picket to “Tell the BC NDP Govt to Pull Israeli Apartheid Wines”.
Major international and Israeli human right groups, including Amnesty International, have determined that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. Yet the BC government insists to carry Israeli wines in publicly owned BC liquor stores, even though most are linked to the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise.
The wines in question are either from the Golan Heights Winery and its joint venture the Galil Winery; or from the Israeli Teperberg Winery, which proudly displays a map on its website showing vineyards in occupied Palestinian territory.
More info: https://cpavancouver.org/boycottisraeliwines-campaign/
Cosponsors for this event include BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish, Canada Palestine Association, ILPS Canada, Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver, Samidoun Vancouver
This event is taking place on the unceded and occupied territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. The organizers stand in full solidarity and support of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination and with the ongoing movements to defend land, water and Indigenous peoples from plunder and settler colonialism.
FB Event Page: Boycott Israeli Wines/Mark Int’l Day of Solidarity with Palestinians | Facebook
Update: Photo Gallery from the Event
Oct. 29, 12 noon Commercial Skytrain Station: Join us as we march in solidarity on this International day of action for the Right of Return and Liberation! We’ll be meeting at the Commercial Skytrain Station to Grandview Park.
The march is an internationally coordinated action by the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement and coincides with their march on the European Parliament in Brussels.
The Palestinian liberation movement is a Palestinian, Arab and international movement, with a history of a century of struggle fighting back against imperialism, Zionism and reactionary forces. Today, as the Palestinian people and their resistance continue to struggle for return and liberation, the colonial occupation is continuing its extrajudicial killings and massacres, siege on Gaza, mass imprisonment, home demolition, settlement construction and overall assaults on Palestine.
Facebook Event: The March for Return and Liberation! | Facebook
