The Co-op has banned Israeli goods. The UK government remains silent. This silence is complicity. Real leadership in the face of genocide would require that the UK sanction Israel.
This is the audio version:
This is the transcript:
Is it time for economic sanctions to be imposed on Israel?
We've reached a point where there is an apparent ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Iran, although how long it will last is anybody's guess, and attention is returning to what is happening in Gaza, where day in, day out, we are seeing signs of the consequence of Netanyahu's genocide.
And let's not beat around the bush here. That is what is happening. The Israeli government - not the people of Israel - the Israeli government is pursuing genocide in Gaza, and people are dying as a result.
People's homes are being deliberately destroyed.
Hospitals are being bombed.
Entire communities are being wiped out.
It's been admitted that this is a policy of eradicating the people of Palestine from Gaza, and that is absolutely contrary to international law.
There is nothing that permits this behaviour, and there hasn't been since Israel went into Gaza in October 2023. And yet, UK policy remains unchanged despite well over 50,000 people in Gaza dying directly or indirectly as a consequence of what is happening.
The time has therefore come to look at alternative courses of action that might tackle the Israeli government and bring pressure to bear on it to change its policy.
Sanctions are one of those things, but they're not being properly discussed.
Sanctions are a peaceful tool to demand accountability from a government.
They are something that says you are ignoring international law, and that we are not, and we are going to take consequent action.
This is not about war. This is not about violence. It's just about bringing economic pressure to bear on a government which is doing something that is profoundly unacceptable, unethical, and, in the case of Israel, at this point in time, illegal.
That's why economic sanctions exist. And remember, they have worked. The economic sanctions on South Africa radically changed the whole perception of that country during the apartheid era, to the point where, of course, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, and reform happened.
Right now in the UK, the Co-op food stores are taking a stand on this issue. The Co-op movement has voted to actually impose sanctions on Israel. And not just on Israel. They have also looked at imposing sanctions on other countries, Russia, Iran, and Syria. They are imposing bans on the products that are coming from those countries because they're saying their actions are ethically unacceptable.
But this has triggered political outrage.
Priti Patel, on behalf of the Conservative Party, has called this student politics. Labour MPs, some of them, have called it divisive, and why? They're saying we shouldn't disrupt the status quo. We shouldn't challenge business as usual. We should therefore, in their opinion, very obviously, be complicit with genocide. But when homes are being bombed and children are dying, and we see that on our television, my suggestion is that inaction is not a choice.
And as a member of the Co-op movement, and I am, I support what it's doing. We should not be neutral because being neutral, as Priti Patel and some Labour MPs are demanding, is, in itself, of course, adopting a political position. It is one that protects and condones the aggressor, and it abandons the victims.
So, we know that we need to take action. And let's be honest, the UK as a whole has taken many actions with regard to sanctions in the past.
Russia is currently sanctioned, massively and appropriately, with regard to its actions in Ukraine.
Iran and Syria have been sanctioned, and appropriately and without hesitation.
But apparently, we cannot sanction Israel despite its decades of occupation of territory which is not its own, and now, during the catastrophe in Gaza, nothing is happening there.
We shouldn't be selective in our approach. Sanctions must not depend on who your allies are. If wrongdoing is seen, and there is wrongdoing by Israel in Gaza, then Israel must be subject to sanctions, even if they harm the ordinary people of Israel, because that's the precise point that they bring. They are meant to harm life inside Israel because the intention is to bring pressure to bear upon the people of Israel to change their government, which is undertaking illegal action in their name.
Now, there's nothing antisemitic in what I'm saying. I would say the same with regard to Iran, and I will. I will say the same with regard to Russia. This is not an issue that has anything to do with Israel being a state which has got a Jewish government. It's to do with the fact that human beings are imposing misery and genocide on other human beings, and there's nothing more to it than that. So stop all the nonsense about this being an attack on Israel and its Jewishness. This is an attack on human beings, and I oppose the abuse of human rights, which is what is happening.
So we need to sanction Israel and remove its legitimacy in world trade, as a consequence.
A supermarket in the UK, the Co-op, is now acting with more moral courage than our government. It has listened to its members, applying their principles and the principles of the Co-op movement consistently, and yet we have politicians attacking them, and that really does make those politicians look cowardly.
But it also calls out the rest of the UK's supermarkets. Why aren't they intending to take action as well?
No one pretends that sanctions are a magic cure for anything. They're not, but they send a signal. They say that crimes against humanity will not be ignored, and they deny support to regimes that abuse power. When bombs are still falling, and there are no red lines that are being enforced with regard to the abuse of human rights, we have to say that lives matter. We have to say that selling carrots grown in Israel is less important than it is to defend the lives of those who are currently unable to defend themselves.
We must take action.
Sanctions are not extreme.
Silence is what is extreme in the face of these forms of abuse.
The Co-op has acted, and I applaud them.
Our government has not acted, and I condemn them.
Gaza demands justice. Sanctions are a start.
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“Our government has not acted, and I condemn them.” So do I.
They have not acted becuase they are Zionists (both the gov, many of its MPs and many in the Tory party).
Zionists are happy (note that word) to ignore on the ground reality. For them, the Palestinians are untermensch.
My impression is that the so-called rules-based international order has gone (if it ever existed – Cambodia anybody?).
The Brits, thus need to look after themselves & that means not supporting deeply unpleasant genocidal & apartheid regimes.
As for “the people of Israel” splitting them into jews and arabs/palestinians, the former mostly support their gov’ in its current actions.
yesterday Pilgrim- PSR -flagged up the case of Andre Cayley KC who was a member of the International Criminal Court and he left due to threats and pressure.
He was afraid of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. Intimidation of the Judiciary is hallmark of Fascism.
One would hope our government would have acted in support of Cayley. But no.
The answer to Richard’s video question is yes but we face opposition and possible dangers from our own political leadership.
https://observer.co.uk/news/international/article/threat-of-us-sanctions-over-gaza-forced-me-out-says-icc-lawyer
Yes.
Sanctions, political activism, and popular support such as Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert, worked against apartheid in South Africa. They could work against the Israeli government. The government in Israel is every bit as odious as the apartheid government in South Africa. The UK should apply similar, or greater, sanctions to Israel. It should not be claiming pro Palestinian organisations are terrorists.
There are other similarities to South Africa. They had Bantustans, which were ethnically segregated “homelands”. No body recognised them. They failed. Israel has ethnically segregated Palestinian “homelands” in Gaza and the west bank. It it trying to ethnically cleanse them. The world looks on.
The UK government is complicit through inaction.
There is a large |Tesco in Eastville, Bristol. Adjacent to the St Pauls and Easton area with their large multi ethnic communities.
Now I dont know at what level the decision was made but it didnt stock South African produce until the end of Apartheid.
What might concern me if I was a major retailer is reputational risk, especially if another major supermarket chain decides not to stock Israeli produce.
The UK and USA are supporting Israel.
Perhaps we should impose economic sanctions on the USA too.
They are on us.
Given current UK government policy on charging anyone that publicly supports Palestine and banning organisations that do the same, I expect the co-op directors to be arrested at any moment. Inciting anti semitism or something.
Well said and wholeheartedly agreed.
The past government stance against apartheid in South Africa now just feels like virtue signalling to my older more jaded self. Would our government have apposed it if it was in our geopolitical interests, of if the NP had a powerful political lobby group that could end careers? Doubtful.
Agreed, wholeheartedly.
One difference between then and now, is the pre-emptive UK legislation now in place to criminalise protest and political campaigning, and in particular, to associate it with terrorism.
The way the legislation is worded, with catch-all phrases like “arouse reasonable suspicion…” that someone might be giving support to a proscribed organisation, means that almost any action or statement aimed at the government of Israel could, if Yvette Cooper got out of the wrong side of bed that morning, or had a row with Ed Balls, be considered to be giving support to a proscribed organisation, and next thing you know they are at your door at 4am, and all your computers and phones have disappeared down the local nick, possibly for several months. Not just theory, ask Asa Winstanley or Sarah Wilkinson. Neither of them painted US-owned refuelling tankers red, or blocked a road, they just WROTE stuff that Israel’s government, a foreign government, objected to. It was anti-terrorist powers that were used against them, aimed at intimidation and taking them off line for weeks or months.
The detention powers and jail sentences available to judges for these “offences” are considerable, but even if, like Asa Winstanley, you are NOT charged, and win your case to (eventually) get your IT kit back, theoretically unexamined, the disruption and trauma is severe.
The business of what organisations are being proscribed now, has become ridiculous, because we are calling dissent and protest, terrorism.so instead of prosecuting someone for obstructing the highway or criminal damage and seeing if a free jury agree, we call it terrorism and control the defence and the jury, and throw civil liberties out the window.
All these repressive changes have ALREADY happened.
This is NOT the country I grew up in. We have always had strict controls (and silly ones) over genuine terrorism. Our own government’s response to the NI situation involved some difficult but correct decisions, some wrong decisions, some injustices and a certain level of farce (Gerry Adams’ words will be spoken by an actor). But they were the decisions of the UK government, not a foreign power.
But things have changed drastically in recent years. So called anti-terror legislation is no longer used to save lives, it is used to repress protest and even to repress dissent, at the behest of FOREIGN governments.
The defenestration of Corbyn was merely the dress rehearsal, the warm up, practiced in obscure Labour committee rooms and CLP/Branch meetings.
But the anti-dissent show has now moved to the West End, and Broadway, and will soon be doing a tour of provincial theatre. It even did a gig at Glastonbury. It may come here.
Like the weapons and surveillance systems that Israel sells at arms fairs, this repression of our citizenry has been “battle tested”, but not on Palestinians, its already been used on Corbyn and the left. Now it is ready for use against any and all UK residents and visitors who dissent from government opinion, and the pressure to use it comes from overseas, from foreign governments, not merely from our own secret services or Special Branch or the Labour Right..
It is about to take (another) swipe at the BDS movement.
Alarmist?
I don’t think so.
For the record, I support the Co-Op, I support BDS, I believe the modern secular state of Israel is committing war crimes, and I believe the UK state is complicit in Israel’s war crimes.
I think it is still legal to say that. Just.
If it isn’t we are in deep trouble
I’m sure “Project Esther” is in full swing here in the UK as well as the US.
https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/project-esther-suppressing-palestinian-solidarity-in-the-us/
Like with Project 2025, I’m pretty sure it’s engineers have taken little account of the strength of opposition.
Gov’t won in High Court today over challenge on selling F-35 parts to “pool”.
“Global security” trumps IHL – is the basic summary of the judgement.
Good video Richard. As a Co-op member myself I applaud what they have done. Priti Patel (another example of the odious self-serving types that contaminate contemporary politics) may consider the Co-op to be engaging in “student politics” but many student political actions are more principled than she will ever be. It was student protests that helped turn the tide against the South African apartheid regime and the US war in Vietnam and took a stand against racism.
On a visit to the Eden Project a few years ago I was taken by a sign in the shop that said “My wallet is my weapon” and have avoided buying products from nations such as Israel by checking labels carefully. (I also avoid unsustainable goods such as asparagus from Peru when good quality local produce is available). So well done the Co-op but we can all do our bit as well. After all, is not personally boycotting produce from countries run by oppressive regimes, and exercise in personal choice and the very essence of the free market that Patel so clearly subscribes to? If, as consumers, we all unite to boycott products from such countries we can, effectively, pursue a collective boycott irrespective of the comments from these useless politicians.
Asparagus from Peru is bonkers. It comes from Norfolk right now…
Meanwhile I have been enjoying local asparagus in Suffolk whilst immersing myself in music at the Aldeburgh Festival – 2 lots of spoiling, one a little freshly ground black pepper!
Enjoy
Thank you Richard for this excellent post. Please would you repeat it on your Youtube channel or as a string on Twitter (X) where it will reach huge audiences. It needs to be shouted out loud.
I am adding them over tme
Didn’t the South African ‘sanctions’ start with people, rather than organisations? I seem to remember people refusing to bank with Barclays and not buying Cape apples.
Perhaps we need to start from the bottom?
As a local Co-op member for many years, specifically because of its ethical policies, I cannot add to Richard’s excellently articulated argument.Israel needs to be put under all the legal pressures that can be applied. The bellicose behaviour of the Netanyahu government is bringing Jewish people who support the State Israel into disrepute globally.
Thanks
I think the quote is Desmond Tutu, but may be Martin Luther King: “To be neutral in the face of oppression is to take the side of the oppressor.”
It is correct either way
I’m surprised to see that this news is about a week old and no mention, that I’ve noticed, in MSM. Very strange…