Activists from the Palestinian cause organized actions in various French supermarkets. Their goal: to remove from the shelves products from Israel.
“In Lyon, dates exported by Israel from the shelves” headlined the site europalestine on June 2. This platform calls for the end of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and the establishment of international sanctions against the country. The site relays a video, in which a man films at the Grand Frais store in Lyon (Rhône), and claims the withdrawal of products from Israel.
The person who is filming requests the removal of certain foodstuffs from the shelves. You have to “remove the products that are not labeled” from the store, insists the activist. According to him, if it is not clear which country they come from, there is no traceability of the commodity, which would be illegal. According to the activist on camera, the untagged products he points to are “from Israeli settlements”.
“An affront to Muslim consumers”
According to a notice published in the Official Journal on 24 November 2016, “foodstuffs from the territories occupied by Israel must bear a label reflecting this origin”. “With respect to products originating from settlements in the West Bank or Golan Heights, a reference to ‘product originating in the Golan Heights’ or ‘product originating from the West Bank’ is not acceptable. .) In such cases, it is necessary to add, in parentheses, the expression ‘Israeli colony’ or equivalent terms. ” It is this lack of reporting that the author of the video criticizes, speaking of “swindle”.
Another video circulates, this time shot at the Carrefour de Chambourcy (Yvelines). A customer protests that dates from Israel are proposed in a special Ramadan radius: “we put Israeli dates on the Ramadan stand, it is an affront to consumers of Muslim faith” he launches to employees. He claims to have contacted the distributors of certain types of dates which confirmed to him that they came from Israel. “Sell Algerian dates and consume at home,” says the person who films, claiming an “ethical” consumption: “Out of the question while they are shooting Palestinians in Gaza” to “finance the Israeli occupation” he says to the store’s employees. The latter withdraw the products, while recalling that the sign does not take “political” part in this debate.
“Can be assimilated to anti-Semitic acts”
Le Figaro has spotted several initiatives of the same type: at the Intermarché d’Itxassou (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) or in a Lidl de Drancy (Seine-Saint-Denis). The daily interviewed Francis Kalifat, president of the Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France) on the subject. For him, these actions “are assimilated to anti-Semitic acts: through Israel, it is the Jews that are targeted.It was seen that some, by the way, do not differentiate between Israeli products and kosher .. . “. At the same time, he points to the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is making a trade war against Israel by refusing to buy its products. He calls the campaign “illegal” and calls for its ban.
The National Office of Vigilance against Antisemitism (BNVCA) assured on its website that “a complaint would be made not only against the perpetrators of this crime, but against all those who by their silence and submission complied with the dictates of this Islamic police “. In Le Figaro, the BNVCA lawyer, Mr. Charles Baccouche, declares that the complaint will be based on the Penal Code which prohibits “hindering the normal exercise of any economic activity by making a distinction between persons especially because of their membership or non-membership of a particular nation “.
The stores concerned have not commented on these actions. The Carrefour group has only stated on a daily basis that the dates removed have been put back on the shelves.
