The Canadian BDS Coalition is pleased to co-sponsor this Canada Palestine Association campaign calling on letters to be sent to PREMIER JOHN HORGAN and FINANCE MINISTER SELINA ROBINSON.
Send your letter here: Tell BC Government to pull Israeli Apartheid Wines Now! – Action Network
#BoycottIsraeliWines
We have been campaigning for years to have illegal Israeli settlement wines pulled off the shelves of publicly owned liquor stores in British Columbia. Successive governments, including the current NDP one, have either ignored or rebuffed our demands to even investigate this situation. We have been told it’s a matter of “consumer choice” or under “federal jurisdiction”. The previous NDP minister responsible for this portfolio, David Eby, flat out refused to meet with us in 2018.
So imagine our shock when in just 2 days, the BC NDP government joined other provinces in putting a “…halt to the importing and sale of Russian liquor products from our BC Liquor Stores and provincial liquor distribution centres”. So it can be done and done quickly, it seems. It just depends on who you are and what political agenda is being served. And clearly, the “consumer choice” argument was nothing but a big lie.
This is just one small concrete example of the stunning hypocrisy displayed by Canadian and Western officials this week. This double standard has not gone unnoticed; social media has been abuzz with multiple comments, pointing out that what is framed as legitimate resistance in one country is labelled terrorism in another. That what determines the response of Western governments, as Palestinian writer Ali Abunimah put it, is a matter of “who we are, not what we do”. That Israeli occupation, oppression and apartheid that has lasted for over 70 years stands unchecked. And that the mass killing and forced starvation of civilians in Yemen goes unnoticed for 7 years, and is continuing in real time, as politicians here show they are capable of swift action within 2 days when it suits their purposes.
This action by the BC (and other provincial governments) is a slap in the face to not only Palestinian-Canadians, but to anyone who cares about the trajectory of political discourse in Canada. Because the message here is clear. International law and the much-touted “rules based order” are not neutral policies that will help the Palestinians and other oppressed peoples achieve their liberation. Activists need to rethink the approach of appealing to politicians’ moral compass, as clearly they don’t have one; their support of Israeli war crimes and apartheid is a conscious choice and we must acknowledge it as such.
Background Info:
Boycott Israeli Wines: New Article and Video
NDP: Your Credibility is on the Line
Tell BC Gov’t to pull Israeli Apartheid Wines Now!
The Israeli wines currently carried in BC liquor stores are linked to the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise.
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.
Activists in BC have sustained an on-going campaign for 14 years to have Israeli wines removed from liquor store shelves. But successive BC governments have refused to do that, claiming it was “consumer choice”.
However, it was demonstrated handily on Feb. 25, 2022, that the government can indeed pull whatever product they chose. In just 2 days, the BC NDP government joined other Canadian provinces in putting a “…halt to the importing and sale of Russian liquor products from our BC Liquor Stores and provincial liquor distribution centres”.
Canada Palestine Association, who has been part of the Boycott Israeli Wines campaign, were outraged: “So it can be done and done quickly, it seems. It just depends on who you are and what political agenda is being served. And clearly, the ‘consumer choice’ argument was nothing but a big lie.”
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.
Last 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”. The Canadian government also acknowledges the illegality of Israeli settlements in its official policy.
So, why this double-standard? If the BC government still refuses to de-shelve Israeli apartheid wines, then we can only conclude that their commitment to international law and human rights is highly selective, politically motivated and racist.
Send your letter here: Tell BC Government to pull Israeli Apartheid Wines Now! – Action Network