South African Store Bans BDS In-Store Protests

November 25, 2014  

South African retailer Woolworths on Tuesday secured a court order banning anti-Israeli activists from protesting in its shops against goods from the Jewish state.

The high-end supermarket took the case to a court after a series of protests by extremist activists from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, who broke into stores brandishing placards and chanting slogans.

Woolworths said the ruling offered “relief” and enforced its rights to “trade free of threats and intimidation.”

Those threats and intimidation were on full display last month, when radical activists from the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) dumped pigs heads in the kosher section of a Woolworths store in Cape Town.

Anti-Israel prejudice in South Africa, Africa’s second largest economy, became even more extreme in the wake of Israel’s counter-terror Operation Protective Edge over the summer, which rallies against the Jewish state drawing tens of thousands in major cities.

Woolworths says it currently imports figs, pomegranates and pretzels from Israel, calling the campaign against Israeli goods misdirected.

Following the court order, the BDS group said in a statement it would “tone down its in-store protest actions” but vowed to intensify its campaign in social media calling to boycott the store. The group is also lobbying the government to stop trade with Israel.

Both parties are also required by the court to hold a meeting before December 10 to try and iron out their differences.

AFP contributed to this report.


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