Co-op members vote to "cease all trading with Israel"

11th June 2025

Members of one of the UK's biggest supermarket chains votes to "cease all trading with Israel" at AGM

Motion submitted by members of the Co-Op urges the board to "show moral courage and leadership" by taking "all Israeli products off the shelves"
The vote is a major victory in the current PSC “Don't Buy Apartheid” campaign
Campaigners for the vote made the links between Israeli companies and Israel's brutal oppression of Palestinians
In an historic first, the AGM of the Co-op group, which includes the supermarket chain, has voted to cease all trading with Israel. The motion proposed by Co-op members in the context of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and decades of oppression of Palestinian people by military occupation and apartheid, has been successfully carried.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Co-op members are now calling for the Co-op to implement the motion and stop stocking Israeli goods.

Israeli fruits and vegetables such as avocados, peppers, herbs and dates are stocked widely in the UK. But Israeli agricultural export companies, like Hadiklaim, Mehadrin and Edom, operate farms and packing houses in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed that these settlements are illegal, and the appropriation of Palestinian resources like water is a war crime. All states have an obligation not to render aid or assistance to Israel in these violations of international law.

While the Co-op has previously committed not to source products from illegal Israeli settlements, campaigners argue that any trade with Israeli agricultural exporters supports their role as participants in Israel’s colonisation and military occupation of Palestinian land. Moreover, campaigners point out that these companies benefit from Israel’s systematic destruction of Palestinian agriculture through exploiting the Palestinian captive market, and contribute tax revenue to the Israeli state, which in turn helps it fund its genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has been running a “Don’t Buy Apartheid” campaign this year urging individuals, shops, restaurants and venues to boycott Israeli fresh produce and all Coca-Cola brands in protest at their links with Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.

Israel’s genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip have given rise to a mass movement in solidarity with Palestinians. Millions in Britain have taken to the streets to oppose Israel’s genocide and the UK government’s complicity in it through military, diplomatic and financial support. In an echo of the South African anti-apartheid campaign, Don’t Buy Apartheid seeks to channel the deep anger felt by so many into a mass campaign to economically isolate Israel’s regime of oppression.

Paul Neill, one of the West Yorkshire activists responsible for the Motion to Stop The Co-op Trading with Israel has said: “We are delighted to say that the Motion was passed by a clear majority of Coop members, reflecting widespread condemnation among the British public for the actions of Israel. This is a historic moment for a UK supermarket chain and puts down a marker for other supermarkets and retailers.”

Lewis Backon, PSC Campaigns Officer, said: “Meaningful solidarity actions could not be more urgent as Palestinians continue to face Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, and its military attacks, land grabs and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. The Co-op AGM vote shows ordinary people in this country are committed to the cause of justice and freedom for Palestine in their everyday lives and refuse to support Israel’s apartheid economy. The Co-op must now listen to its members, and implement the motion by taking all Israeli goods off the shelves.

https://palestinecampaign.org/press-release-co-op-members-vote-to-cease-all-trading-with-israel/

Other boycotts can be seen at https://boycott.thewitness.news/categories/supermarket