Woolworths suspends sale of Israeli products

FOLLOWING the announcement made by the human rights NGO Africa4Palestine calling for an end to the boycott of Woolworths stores after the retailer said it would not be stocking products from Israel, the retailer shared its views with Business Report.

Woolworths said on Friday media articles claiming Woolworths supports an Israeli boycott are inaccurate.

“We want to set the record straight. 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.

“In a world already polarised and where misinformation, misunderstanding and suffering are fuelling heightened emotion, we refuse 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 popular store chain went on to say.

Woolworths did confirm that it would be suspending the sale of Israeli products at its stores.

“As always, the safety and wellbeing of our employees and customers is our 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. Woolies always endeavours to do the right thing by our employees, our customers and society at large. We continue to do this as we navigate these very challenging times,” Woolworths said.

Africa4Palestine released a statement on Thursday evening welcoming the decision of Woolworths not to stock Israeli products.

The NGO stated, “In a formal letter received by Africa4Palestine, the CEO of Woolworths, Mr Roy Bagattini, has confirmed that Woolworths is no longer stocking Israeli products”.

“He stated that there is currently not one single product on their shelves from Israel: ‘We do not have any products on our shelves that are for sale that have been imported from Israel. Not stocking products from Israel aligns with the principles of ethical consumerism’,” the NGO said.

EFF leader Julius Malema called for a boycott of Woolworths and McDonald’s stores in October. He said he wanted Woolworths stores to remove every Israeli product on their shelves, as well as making calls to cut ties with companies linked to Israel.