Anti-Israeli campaign aims at AGM

Activists buy Woolworths shares and head for the boardroom

WOOLWORTHS shareholders Nadia Hassan, Marthie Momberg, Alan Horwitz and Muhammed Desai will this week take the campaign against the retailer’s sales of Israeli products to the company’s annual general meeting.

Desai, of Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) South Africa, recently acquired Woolworths shares.

“We will put [it] to them that what Woolworths’ management is doing flies in the face of good corporate governance. It is neither good public relations nor good business that they are holding on to the R12-million-ayear [business from Israel],” he said.

Woolworths sells Israeli figs, pretzels and pomegranates.

But the retailer reiterated that it sourced products from many countries, including in Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and the Far East. It said that it did not have a relationship with Israel.

“Many of these regions have social and political issues,” said retail operations director Paula Disberry. “We adopt an apolitical approach. We follow our government trade and policy guidelines when sourcing outside South Africa. We only deal with responsible suppliers.”

It is believed that representatives of BDS South Africa will be jetting off to Australia to launch their campaign there after Woolworths recently concluded a R21-billion acquisition of David Jones. Just as it has been doing with ANC heavyweights in South Africa, BDS has started lobbying the Australian trade union movement.

Momberg, a Stellenbosch University research fellow and PhD candidate at the university’s faculty of theology, said she joined the public discourse because Woolworths did not take her seriously when she inquired about the effect of the BDS campaign on sales.

Momberg said her actions were also based on monitoring human rights abuses by Israel in Palestine.

“This is not an emotional reaction on my part. I feel that Woolworths is not living up to expectations about being an ethical business,” she said.

Horwitz, a Jewish humanrights activist who represents a handful of Jewish Woolworths shareholders, said they supported the campaign because of human-rights violations as recognised by the UN.

The campaign is about Israel denying Palestinians political rights

The campaign was about Israel denying Palestinians political rights, said Horowitz.

“The support by the Jewish investors will lend credibility to the fact that the campaign is not anti-Semitic. We have been receiving threatening calls about us supporting the destruction of Israel. All sorts of insulting names such as selfhating Jews and Nazis have been hurled at us,” he said.

Asked to verify the three shareholders who had come forward to support the campaign, Disberry said: “It appears from media reports that the meeting was held by the BDS and their affiliates, including a few Woolworths shareholders . . . We listen to the views of all stakeholders and action what we can.

“We do not exclude any shareholders from attending our AGM,” she said.