PRODUCE ‘THREAT’
Pro-Palestinian group’s threatened protest forces Woolies to withdraw its popular Israeli pearl couscous
The retailer says while it is neither pro-Palestinian nor anti-Israel, it must put the wellbeing and safety of its staff and customers first.
Woolworths has been forced to withdraw its popular Israeli pearl couscous from its shelves after it received “credible” threats about protests and a consumer boycott, which it feared could have put staff and customers at risk.
The threats to #BoycottWoolworths emanated from the Africa4Palestine movement, which had launched the campaign to force Woolworths to stop selling Israeli products.
It said it would target other retailers to follow suit.
On Friday, the retailer issued a statement titled “Setting the record straight” in which it affirmed that it was neither pro-Palestinian nor anti-Israeli and that media articles claiming that it supports an Israeli boycott were false.
“Despite reports commending us for taking a pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli position — we have not. Woolworths would like to explicitly affirm that we neither support nor boycott anyone.
“Woolworths has no political affiliations and does not support any political party, organisation or country.”
It said that in a polarised world where misinformation, misunderstanding and suffering were fuelling heightened emotion, it refused to add to the division and divisiveness.
“Many of us have been deeply affected in various ways by the atrocities and death of innocent people we are witnessing on our screens. Intolerance is on the rise and, we as an organisation, cannot and will not add fuel to the fire, and will always continue to seek ways to bring people together.”
The retailer said employee and customer safety was its top priority.
“Given the significant and credible threats we have received, and in order to do our best to safeguard our employees and customers, we took the decision to pre-emptively suspend the sale of the one product we had on our shelves that was imported from Israel.”
Protest threats
When asked about the threats, a spokesperson said Woolworths had received various threats of protest action aimed at its stores, “which has the potential to put our people and customers in harm’s way”.
While Woolworths did not specify where the threats of protest emanated from, the pro-Palestinian organisation, Africa4Palestine — formerly known as BDS South Africa — issued a statement the previous day, in which it welcomed the decision not to stock Israeli products.
On its website, Africa4Palestine, which claims to be Africa’s largest Palestinian solidarity human rights movement, said not stocking products from Israel “aligns with the principles of ethical consumerism. By not stocking Israeli products, a company demonstrates its commitment to being a socially responsible corporate citizen.
“Our organisation’s communication with Woolworths was out of concern over allegations that Woolworths is supporting Israel. We wrote to the CEO as we felt it important to engage directly and we thank the company and him for their responsiveness.”
The group thanked supporters who had heeded their calls to #BoycottWoolworths and said the campaign was “no longer necessary”.
The EFF, ANC Youth League and Al-Jama-ah welcomed the retailer’s decision to stop selling the Israeli product.
“This brings to an end the calls for a boycott of Woolworths. Africa4Palestine encourages other companies to follow Woolworths’ example and thus we will be engaging other retailers to follow the Woolworths example.”
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies has previously described Africa4Palestine as an “anti-Semitic” and “extremist” organisation.
On Thursday, Deputy International Relations Minister Candith Mashego-Dlamini said calls for the Israeli embassy’s closure “have merit”, after numerous calls for South Africa to cut diplomatic ties with the country. DM
Very sad that Woolworths is being pushed around like this, but the peace-loving Palestinian movement no doubt made credible threats of violence. Such is the first resort of bullies.
All I can say is thank G-D I’m closer to my end than my beginning. We live in strange times. Right is wrong up is down and left is right. Evil trumps every time! So over this!
Disagree. Good always triumphs over evil. Light will ultimately prevail over darkness. It may not seem like it, but it always does and will.
Unproven, unverifiable opinion stated as fact.
Like pretty much all of the comments here.
Get those rants off your chests people, you’ll feel better. You’ll change nothing and you’ll influence no one, but you’ll feel better.
I hope they remove all products from Palestine as well then.
Palestine don’t have exports. It isn’t a country of its own. Technically it’s a part of Israel, but if a Palestinian did not apply for naturalisation to be an Israli citizen, they are stateless. Palestine was not given the same right to self determination as Israel was in 1948, so even were they in a position to export products, it would fall under Israeli exports anyway. That’s kind of what this civil war if you like is all about. Its not a one side vs another side fight, its one country committing apartheid then escalating to genocide while the world watches on and does nothing.
I have to disagree, Ellen. This is about Israel’s right to exist in their traditional homeland since 2000 years ago and Palestine’s commitment to exterminate all Jews. This isn’t about land for the Palestinians. Otherwise they would have accepted the 5 deals offered to them sover the last few decades. Gaza could have been a thriving economy. But they’d rather go to war than live in peace.
The comment to which Ellen replied was that Woolworths should remove all Palestinian products as well. Israel have blockaded Gaza for years, and very little in the way of commercial exports is getting out. Any supply that Woolworths might have had will have dried up over the last month. So it’s a non-issue really.
I don’t see a commitment to exterminate all Jews. Hamas (not Palestine) has the objective of wiping out the state of Israel, but we need to remember that being anti-Israel and being anti-Jews, all Jews, just because they are Jews, are not the same thing.
Well said.
Complete mis-statement Bob.
Perhaps when you hear the chants “Itbah Al-Yahud” at pro-Palestinian marches you may think it only means “slaughter the Israeli” (which you seem to be implying is alright), but it actually means “slaughter the Jew”. They are also not chanting “gas the Israelis”, they are chanting “gas the Jews”. Shall I go on?
Rubbish. Palestine cannot feed its own people without Israeli input. They, like most African states, are net importers of food. They export nothing, nada, zilch because they produce very little.
Crazy after the situation of Palestine, in the spotlight now as a people who has been dependent on aid even long before this war, could be seen as an exporter of goods? Clearly they have no economy.
This is how the BDS bunch roll. If you don’t agree with them they threaten violence. This is one example, the other one being the disrupted peace gathering in Seapoint.
Samuel, the video evidence is very clear, before the peace was “disrupted”, a man crossed the divide between the two groups, waving an Israeli flag. The Pro-Palestinian group was right behind the SAPS “line”. He was requested by SAPS to retreat but did it very slowly while waving the Israeli flag at the Pro-Palestinian supporters. When someone grabbed his flag, he threw the first punch, he also had a visible firearm. That man has been identified as Dan Marcelo; I’m not going to give you any further detail about him, you can research that yourself.
My questions are: Why was Dan there (he’s not South African) and why did you think he antagonized the Pro-Palestinian supporters?
They still allowing this guy to post his nonesense?
Not true.
From where I stand South African is a democratic country. Woolies have a right to buy and sell products in this country. I wonder where are these dictatorship tendencies come from. Are we invaded by extremists up to the level of our government? Our constitution needs to be protected.
The irony is that many SA Jews shop at Woolworths. I wonder if this will still be the case. And, more importantly, whether the forced wearing of yellow stars is on the horizon.
“It said that in a polarised world where misinformation, misunderstanding and suffering were fuelling heightened emotion, it refused to add to the division and divisiveness.”
How do they justify that stance because all the have simply done is prove that they get involved in the politics of the sociopathic EFF and ANC who use threats of violence to protest peacefully. Those clever politicians…..see how oxymorons work?
I agree with another commenter here – by all rights the. They must remove all Halaal products too.
As a consumer I will vote with my wallet and conduct my own #boycott Woolworths campaign.
Let’s not spread that war to our own shores!
Big mistake Woolworths. Once you start yielding to threats, you strengthen the threatener and the threats never stop coming. You should have applied for an interdict.
Woolworths will never do this, it would hurt their profits, I will be selling my shares in the company.
Why just boycott Israeli products? If you are anti-Israel, then you need to quit your job if you’re working for an Israeli owned business. Let’s see how many Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Clicks, Hirsch’s, Foschini group, etc. staff are prepared to do that.
There’s a difference between being “Israeli” and being “Jewish”. Pick ‘n Pay was founded by a Jewish, but not Israeli, man, and his son is now CEO. That doesn’t make them “Israeli”.
Both sides in this conflict conflate the two terms. Israel do it so they can condemn any criticism of state policies with hatred of Jews. But there are many Jews who are unashamed of their Jewish identity but do not approve of, at least, the current Israeli government.
Organisations on the other side tend to just be confused about this, unable to seperate the identies of “Jew” and “Israeli”, or “Jew” and “pro-Israel”.
The true roots of this conflict are politicial, not religious, not even ethnic.
The true roots of this conflict are anything but political
You are spot on.
And therefore, I will boycott woolworths
People vote with their feet and wallet, just like Dischem took a huge knock, fully agree with a boycott.
It’s a good point, and I was wondering about exactly this yesterday. We went shopping for kids’ clothes and foodstuff we’d normally get at Woolies. We made a conscious decision to buy at places other than Woolies because of this (and made sure to buy a little something at Cape Union Mart to support them because of the flak they’re currently taking). I actually thought if my silly actions would make any difference to their bottom lines, and then I remembered the smack that Dischem has just taken because of that letter that Ivan Saltzmann wrote and how the man in the street did end up kicking him where it hurts.
You are trying to provoke a religious war, this is not about jewish or muslim products, halaal or kosher, its about the crimes of zionist Israhell and the products made there.
And the crimes of Hamas are OK?
That’s not true. Most of the comments are neutral, yours is not.
Fact: HAMAS started the fight with the worst atrocities that British journalist Douglas Murray has ever seen. You would be foolish to think that Israel would turn the other cheek and do nothing. So HAMAS have brought all this sufferinga and destruction on the Palestinian people. It was all planned and unfortunately HAMAS does not care about Palestinians or Israelies but only about what their leaders can get out of it while they live the high life in neibhouring countries. If HAMAS had been using aid money to build schools, hospitals etc instead of buying weapons and building rockets then none of this would have happened.
Sounds like you are describing the anc .…
Max Ozinsky has a great name. It is stolen and occupied, and our people are suffering under its oppression on this website.
I think Ozinsky is confused
Halaal is not Hamas. Do any Woolworths goods come from Palestine or more specifically Hamas industries?
While Woolworths did the sensible and safe thing, i cannot believe that caving in to threats of violence is a good long term approach. What about the next cause/time/issue?
I want to protest against Woolworths and all the other shops who sell Russian sausages! Why are the EFF so quiet on this?
Where does this end? Boycott MacDonalds because the Americans invaded Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan?
I am sure that taking Israeli couscous off the shelves is going to make a huge affect on the war.
What a crazy world we live in.
LOL, ever since the Russian invasion, I don’t drink Vodka. Ever since COVID, I don’t eat Chinese food.
Dear Columbia … please don’t do anything stupid!
(This is a joke, in the spirit of the preceding comment, so let’s not freak out, OK?)
Hahaha
Couscous, seriously? Please don’t get everyone worked up too much and advocate for a ban on vodka, that would be too much for all of us!
Lechaim!
Touchè!
Why is it that a small group have the power to tell me and the rest of the country wat we are allowed to eat and drink. Generally all Products from Woolies are of a high standard. This is just unacceptable
Its frustrating to hear South Africa talking about other countries affairs. War crimes in Israel. What a joke. Police stats show between July and September 6,945 murders took place in public places in South Africa.
And the pea brains keep talking War crimes. Sort your own country out!! Far worse than War.
When ever they open their mouth they show the staggering amount of no brainers we have.
It’s easy to blame Woollies, but what we are seeing is the logical outcome of what was once termed “appeasement”. Anyone with a knowledge of history will know where that leads. We have been courting this for decades – in the UK in 1989, when an Iranian ayatollah issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, without having so much as read what he wrote. A lynch mob several hundred strong paraded in the UK baying for his head, and the police did nothing, no doubt under instruction, since a law was clearly being flouted. And here we are, with dogma-brainwashed mobs threatening mayhem etc against legitimate commercial enterprises. So, you want the easy route? Be careful what you wish for!
Well that is an interest issue of impartiality, I wonder what if any products on SA shelves Woolworths that originate in Palestine could be removed from any shelves in the current climate of this nation atthe moment.
That would be impartiality or would the resultant threats of protest and indeed violence make declining the “safe opton” for me? I think I am am going to prefer to shop elswhere!
Woolworths will not see me again!
I for one will not stop buying from Woolworths. All the political BS is rubbish in our day to day lives.
What I can’t understand is the number of folks who have equated this to collaboration with Hamas. It’s not. It’s taking a pragmatic decision to ensure the safety of shoppers and staff. Remember that those staff have a long ride home in the evening.
The other thing that needs to be said is that when there was a pro-Palestinian march in Cape Town, that went ahead without much disruption or violence, even though there were citizens of Cape Town who disapproved of the march and the sentiment. But that’s the democractic way for you – I might not like what you are saying, but I defend your right to say it.
By contrast we have had the prevention of a later march, ostensibly pro-peace, by pro-Palestinian groups. Now we have credible threats to Woolworths. This is NOT anything to do with freedom of speech, it’s a case of you being free to speak as long as I approve of your speech. It’s the punchline of the old van der Merwe joke in which a Russian citizen asserts “I too am free to stand up and yell ‘up yours, Ronald Reagan’.”
Being impartial means you treat everybody the same. The “politically correct” thing to do after making such a statement would be to remove all Israeli/Kosher as well as Halaal foods/articles from Woolworth’s shelves.
While Israeli supporters did not threaten anybody with boycotts/violence Woolworths is very quick to submit to pro-Palistinian demands.
Well I will not shop at Woolworths. How many Gazan people who used to work on the farms in Israel maybe even producing couscous, will no longer have work. More suffering for them. Question have the Pro Palestine workers all resigned from Woolworths?
Our average monthly spend at Woollies is R7k to R8k a month. I guess we’ll just redeploy that until Woollies management can develop a backbone. Checkers have lifted their product game, so maybe we support them now.
That is called democracy – everyone ends up having to suffer the consequences of the majority vote. The Gazans voted for Hamas knowing their goal was the elimination of Israel – yet they expect to earn their living working in Israel? the absurdity is mindboggling.
I trust that in the interests purely of non-aligned justice, all Jews will refrain from shopping at Woolworths. We would not want to endanger other customers and staff through our presence in their stores. Right?
Spot on! It goes to show who the bullies are. They should never have bowed down to these thugs.
So (the threat of) violence and anarchy reins supreme. Whilst the war in Gaza/Israel/West Bank is a great tragedy that unfortunately does not seem to have a quick solution, democracy in South Africa has become the latest victim. It should be for customers to decide whether they want to buy Israeli products, not for anyone to hold a gun to the retailers’ heads. Doing so, these organizations have just become terrorists themselves.
Especially the EFF and ANC, including the latter’s Youth League, sidle up against the Russians with great glee. Have not heard one squeak from them condemning Putin for invading another sovereign country for no reason except for subjecting those people to his dictatorial rule. Their selective morality is utterly questionable.
I trust the activists are abandoning their mobile phones many of which use tech developed in I*r**l.
Great comment!
Presumably, in the interests of parity, Woolworths will remove all Palestinian products from their shelves as well as Israeli goods. No, I thought not. I’m disgusted. It is disingenuous of Woolworths to say they are neutral when they comply, however unwillingly, with one side of this conflict. Once again, we South Africans are at the receiving end of bullies. That the EFF and ANC Youth League support the bullying tactics of Africa4Palestine is to be expected; their MO is very similar.
As long as we distinguish between “Halal” and “Palestinian”.
With the long running blockades in place, how much of an export industry does Gaza have?
Palestine does not produce anythng worth exporting so there are no Palestininian goods on WW shelfs. Before Jewish people got to Israel in 1948 it was a wasteland but now this tiny country produces and exports invovative goods and agricultural products. Compare that to Gaza and the West Bank which only seem to export, hate, suffering and misery.
I agree. I shop at Woollies every day but would join a boycott because I think what they are doing is wrong. There are plenty of alternatives. I’m not signalling pro – Israel or pro – Palestine, I’m just pro ‘sick-of-being-threatened-by-loudmouthed-bullies’.
The only reason many people in SA care about what’s happening in a far away place that most couldn’t pick out on an unlabeled map is that they share a religion with the side that’s taking a beating. The deafening silence when both sides of the many conflicts currently raging share the same one is instructive.
The real problem, as we see here in the comments section, is most people’s inability to distinguish between state and religion. Although it suits both sides to portray this as a religious war, it isn’t. It’s about two states and their politics.
Sorry, fundamental disagreement with this comment. This conflict is EXACTLY about a clash of religions vs a clash of states. There is a similar-sized war / displacement of people (2-odd million) in a muslim vs muslim conflict happening as we speak in Pakistan / Afghanistan. Are you even aware of this? Never mind Syria, North Africa etc. (not getting into all that, careful not to be labelled a “whataboutits” again)
In today’s world there are currently 56 Muslim nations and 103 Christian ones and a single Jewish state – Israel, which is the only one of the 193 member nations of the United Nations that has its right to exist regularly challenged.
Nothing, whatsoever to do with politics here. This is absolutely everything to do with Jews, and the world’s oldest hatred.
100% Not once has Israel called for the destruction of any Arab/Muslim state and yet many of those have called for theirs. It is hypocrisy at its finest
Woolworths seem to not be under pressure to not stock kosher foodstuffs (and they stock many). That’s because “kosher” and “Israeli” are not the same. One is to do with meeting a religious standard, one is to do with the country of origin.
Same with halaal. Most halaal foodstuffs in this country (EG KFC) will not originate from Gaza or even from the West Bank.
Always good to give in to terrorists, it works a charm (sic). If there are credible threats, which would be criminal acts if they occurred, report them to SAPS.
Very disheartening that political threats are effectively blackmail.
A tempting thought, but it would just escalate tensions I’m afraid. Sad.
So if there is any product that comes from an origin that the public don’t agree with, all one has to do is threaten a boycott and the product is immediately removed? This is the same public that squeals about the high price of food and yet wants to dictate where the origins should be.
No mention of the Hamas atrocities and taking of hostages which sparked off this Israeli response? WW is weak to cave in over this. All these militant pro Palestinian groups don’t seem to mention the cause of the bombing. Hamas brought it on Gaza. It could have stopped immediately if Hamas had returned the hostages. I am not condoning Israeli settler actions on the West Bank and I do not support extremism on either side but it is about time we all faced up to the facts.
Am I the only one that finds this hilarious? Seriously – like are we meant to believe that the so-very innocuous couscous (like our SA pap) is where the singular “credible threat” can be isolated to, and by removing it from the shelves there has been some sort of threat removed and victory achieved? Are the Hamas supporters really appeased by this and are they going to leave Woolworths alone now? Couscous? Seriously?
This shows how far populist movements will go. Hope they call on Woolworths to remove items from Iran, Russia, and other autocratic countries.
Woolies is full of it aren’t they?? We have a constitutional right to protest. How they made the leap from protest to endangering lives of customers and staff is simply mind boggling. They claim to be “ethical”, to be aware of current trends towards recognising the rights of the marginalised in society, so why should they even have to be told to stop stocking goods manufactured in occupied territories by a colonial entity. Or is it that they are just plain racist and don’t really feel that Palestinians have rights, but decided to stop stocking for the ridiculous reason of “credible threats”. They sound like the Israeli state- making up stories. Show us proof of threats Woolies. Don’t make up stories here. The right to protest is the right of every SA citizen. Why would you think the protests would turn violent. Protests have only turned violent when Zionists have confronted protestors and caused trouble. Shame on you Woolworths ! You are on the wrong side of history. And your statement about not taking sides is plain rubbish. Why are you afraid to condemn the genocide of Palestinian people?? That’s not taking sides. That is being human!! Shame on you Daily Maverick for not calling Woolworths out on their double standards. Claiming to be oh so ethical and then spouting nonsense like this! And what do they want with Palestinian maftoul anyway?? Palestinian couscous has suddenly become Israeli couscous!! Colonisation on every single level including the culture of the Palestinian people. I’m disgusted by this ridiculous article.
I couldn’t make head or tail of this comment. Are we to believe that Israel has now also appropriated, stolen and occupied couscous from its original owners too? When will this evil ever end?
Please explain this genocide when the population of Gaza has doubled since 2005? It seems the exact opposite is occurring
Woolworths you are an embarrassment to law abiding peaceful citizens because you kowtow to the demands of a miniscule minority that shouts the loudest.
Stand your ground for goodness sake. Say no to threats and intimidation.
What utter chaos if every citizen responds like you have done?
Show some backbone for a change, please!
I want to reiterate how disappointed I am at daily maverick for not calling Woolies out on this nonsense and not asking for proof of threats. You just accepted that there are threats without any proof?? How is this responsible reporting and how does this not fall in with mainstream media vilification of people that are against the occupation and the current genocide ?? What threat Woolies. Show us proof. Last I checked we had a constitutional right to protest. How you made the leap from protest to danger is ludicrous and proves just how hypocritical you are – claiming to be ethical but only applying ethics to what you want!! This whole article is nonsense. Your readers that are vilifying the protest action show how indoctrinated and uneducated they are about the conflict. How their minds have been conditioned by the drivel they see on mainstream news outlets. Woolies is taking a leaf out of the book of the hasbara and lying in this instance. Do the right thing Daily Maverick and call them out on their lies
You can be very passionate about an issue and be blinkered enough to be completely wrong. You can get your blinkers on CNN or at your place of worship depending on your tastes and upbringing. Both varieties are very effective but the one is less likely to make you foam at the mouth.
The whole world is bowing down to Islam. Be very very wary of what you accept today as ok, but tomorrow it will be too late to change…….
Bad move. The genie may now be out the bottle. I like Woolworths but I hope your bottom line takes a hit.
The good the comes out of this is that more and more people are beginning to realise what is happening in the Middle East – occupation. And higher authorities have realised that the situation cannot go on like this (Obama). No matter how poor they might be, people treasure their freedom
People know less than they ever did. They have appropriated buzzwords like “genocide” and “occupation”, while sadly South Africa has sold the legacy of genuine “apartheid” to the highest bidder. Meanwhile much of the world has forgotten about the evils of the Holocaust (which happened in our living memory, not ancient history) and is ready to blame the same old scapegoat (Jews) for all of its evils.
Economic poverty is not freedom, it is a bondage. And so is moral poverty.
Oh how miserably uninformed and naive you are dear sir. If more people knew what was happening in the Middle East, they wouldn’t be saying what you just said.
I will no longer support an organization that allows itself to be bullied into submission! There are two sides to this story!! No more Woollies for me and my family!!
Exactly! And with the SAPS being their useless selves, what other choice do descent peace loving people have?
Maybe they were inspired by the Dischem folly. Use your conscience and spend your money elsewhere.
One would like to take a neutral stance on the issue of what is happening in the Middle-East but the pro-Palestinians are so violent you are beginning to have 2nd thoughts. If one consider the violence that occurred in Sea Point when they had a protest there and now this threat against Woolies.
We live in a free society where one can give your opinion free of fear. Are the pro-Palestinians the only group who may have an opinion without fear?
At least Samar called you “Mr” Malan.
The ANC government came from terrorist leanings. This is why they in bed with China and Russia. A Sudanese war criminal was protected in South Africa. The government supported Col Giddafi. I’m not surprised the Israeli embassy is now closed.
And, all the clowns around the world march and chant without educating themselves or seeking truth. As for the brazen anti-semites, they need to be locked up. There is too much hatred in the world already.
Another thing: a Palestinian flag has been hanging off Tollgate Bridge over the N3 in Durban for weeks. If that flag was an Israeli flag it would have been removed by now.
And, by the way, just to end off, Israel is the only truly democratic state in the Middle East (ask any female who lives in an oppressive Arab country how much freedom they have).
Stupidity is the new pandemic.
God help us.
A glorious Hamas victory. Death to pearl couscous.
Unbelievable how you all arguing about this whatever it is, here is THE POINT, Woolworths SA will not sell Israeli couscous. So nothing you will say here will change it. WE WON
Well if they taking a stance on bringing people together they should condemn the killing I’d innocent Palestinians! They should stop importing from a country that is ethnic cleansing, from a country that occupies, from a country that discriminate and from a coumtry that has apartheid!