The Day of Action to Boycott Israeli Wines, Don’t Drink with Apartheid on Feb. 5 featured pickets in two major BC cities as well as solidarity selfies from other parts of Canada. This was just the latest round of protests in a campaign that has been ongoing since 2008, and has been “punching above its weight” since its inception.
Since Israeli wines first came on the shelves in BC’s publicly-owned liquor stores, dedicated local activists have carried the Boycott Israeli Wines, Don’t Drink with Apartheid theme forward. A theme that reflects an organic link with the struggle against South African apartheid, as their supporters stood outside some of the exact same stores many years ago calling for a boycott of S. African wines.
The campaign has faced relentless attacks from the Zionist lobby since 2008, with smear attacks and trolling on social media to the tawdry Buycott calls, and even outright intimidation and threats especially in 2016. Through all of this, the campaign has never wavered, and re-emerges with new determination to keep protesting until the BC (and Canadian) government stop profiteering off Israeli war crimes and apartheid.
Victoria Picket Feb. 5, Organized by CAIA VictoriaVancouver picketPicket outside Victoria liquor store. Vancouver out to say #BoycottIsraeli Wines #EndIsraeliApartheidVictoria PicketVancouver Picket, Feb. 5Collage of photo highlights.
The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch is complicit in violations of Palestinian human rights. Despite calls from multiple local organizations for a boycott of Israeli wines, many produced in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, they continue to be sold in publicly owned BC Liquor Stores. Repeated appeals to the provincial cabinet ministers responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch have seen no action and little response. Israeli settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law. They are part and parcel of the systematic targeting of the Palestinian people for dispossession, occupation and apartheid.
From Turtle Island to Palestine, profiting off colonization is a crime!
SATURDAY, 22 JANUARY 2022 at 2 PM Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat: Protest and Postering for Palestine Commercial–Broadway station, Vancouver Facebook Event
And join us for our Feb. 5 Day of Action to Boycott Israeli Wines and tell the BC NDP government to stop profiting off Israeli war crimes! Feb. 5, 3 pm, BC Liquor Store, Alberni & Bute, Vancouver Boycott Israeli Wines Picket – Day of Action | Facebook
2021 was a busy year for both Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver, as the solidarity movement with Palestine grew in both depth and reach. The diverse base of support and unity for Palestinian rights was evidenced by the thousands of people who took to the streets in Vancouver in May/June to demand accountability from Israel and an end to Canadian complicity in Israeli war crimes. The theme of Canadian complicity ran through many of our 2021 campaigns, from demanding No Criminalization of Palestinian Advocacy by the Canadian government to exposing CBC’s outrageous “language guide” that censors the word Palestine to participating in the #IVotePalestine campaign holding Canadian politicians to account. Prisoner support and Boycott Israel actions were also a big part of our activities; boycott campaigns included Block the Boat rallies against the Israeli Zim shipping line, #BoycottPuma pickets and our signature Boycott Israeli Wines-Don’t Drink with Apartheid that has been calling out the BC government for over a decade on its war crimes profiteering.
We are strong believers in the principles of grassroots organizing and international solidarity, and 2021 showed that groups relying on activism are the heart and soul of the Palestinian solidarity movement. Together we march towards return and liberation!
BC Government: Stop Profiting off Israeli War Crimes
The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch is complicit in violations of Palestinian human rights. Despite calls from multiple local organizations for a boycott of Israeli wines, many produced in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, they continue to be sold in publicly owned BC Liquor Stores. Repeated appeals to the provincial cabinet ministers responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch have seen no action and little response.
The Israeli wines carried in BC stores have consistently been linked to the 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. According to the progressive Israeli research group “Who Profits”, Teperberg Winery “owns and sources from vineyards in the occupied West Bank, including in the Ezion Bloc settlement and in Mevo Horon.”
Israeli settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law. They are part and parcel of the systematic targeting of the Palestinian people for dispossession, occupation and apartheid for over 73 years. Consecutive BC governments have also been aiding and abetting the pillage of Palestinian and Arab property and resources, expressly forbidden in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Earlier this year, the New Democratic Party NDP of Canada passed a resolution that committed in part to end “all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine”. As noted in our April 19, 2021 letter to the Finance Minister in BC’s NDP provincial government (which has received no response to date): “The sale of wines from illegal Israeli settlements in BC and Canadian liquor stores has been an ongoing travesty for over a decade; there is no better place for the NDP to implement its new policy (and for)… action to finally be taken on this issue. In September 2018, thirty-one organizations already told the BC government: ‘We do not wish to be made complicit in these violations of international law’.“
Human rights violations are not a valid “consumer choice” – but they are the choice being made every day by the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. These are our publicly funded stores and should reflect a commitment to human rights, including justice for the Palestinian people.
We are calling on B.C. Finance Minister Selina Robinson and the Liquor Distribution Branch to immediately halt this complicity in Israeli war crimes. The current BC government has recently shown its disregard for the rights of indigenous people, with its violent raids on Wet’suwet’en territory. They need to make a change and respect international law rather than violating it.
From Turtle Island to Palestine, profiting off colonization is a crime!
Signed by: BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish Territories Canada Palestine Association
Endorsed by: Association of Palestinian Students UTM Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation of Victoria Canadian BDS Coalition Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights Coalition against Israeli Apartheid Victoria Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle – CST Greater Toronto 4 BDS Human Rights for All HR4A, Saskatchewan Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver Justice for Palestinians, Calgary Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine Israel Oakville Palestinian Rights Association OPRA PCCC-Palestine House Palestine Solidarity, St. John’s Palestinian And Jewish Unity Palestinian Youth Movement Vancouver Peace Alliance Winnipeg Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network SANSAD South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy Socialist Action Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC Students Against Israeli Apartheid – U of T Sulong UBC Vancouver & District Labour Council Vancouver Peace Council Victoria Friends of Cuba West Coast Coalition Against Racism Society
(Group endorsements can be sent to cpavancouver@gmail.com; we will be updating the endorsers list on a regular basis. Please join us in saying: From Turtle Island to Palestine, Profiting off Colonization is a Crime!)
