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March 20, 2009
One small act of resistance
Community bands together to buy wine and support Israel.
SARA NEWHAM
The pro-Israel community is banding together and digging deep – into its wallets – to support the Jewish state.
Faced with a third boycott on Israeli wines and a protest outside the Main Street branch of the B.C. Liquor Store on March 7, the Canada-Israel Committee and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver put a call out to the community to buy out the store of Israeli products.
"We told them that whenever there's a boycott called for of Israeli wines, we're going to ask the community to go and buy a bottle of wine or Israeli beer as a small act of resistance against this call to boycott Israeli products and we've done it now three times," said Dr. Michael Elterman, chair of the Canada-Israel Committee for the Pacific Region.
"What we really wanted to do was to create a paradoxical effect so that the message that we would give to the groups that would propose the boycott and stand outside the liquor stores is that the more you try and boycott Israeli goods, the more you're going to help Israel.”
So far, the campaign has had positive results. Although no one from the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch was available to confirm sales of Israeli products, Elterman indicated he has heard the liquor stores sold out of Israeli products on the day of the boycotts.
"On the first two occasions that we called for the [wine campaign], the actual store where the demonstrators were outside, actually ... sold out of all beer and all Israeli wine and, this last [time], I got reports that there were three liquor outlets in the Lower Mainland, including the one at Cambie and the one on Main, that when people went to buy products late in the afternoon on Saturday, they had no more Israeli wines.”
Liquor Distribution Branch spokesperson Tarina Palmer said that it was up to the landlords of the properties, from which the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch rents space, to allow or disallow demonstrations.
The boycott – called for by the Canada Palestine Association and advertised in the Georgia Straight – was the third in less than a year but the first was in 2009.
Elena Feder, who opposes the boycott, explained that while wine is not a huge component of the Israeli economy, it is an important part. She added that the boycott is part of a larger strategy to associate Israel with the apartheid regime in South Africa.
"The idea is to apply the same model that worked with South Africa. It establishes a false parallel between the two historical and economic situations but the reality is totally different. There is not apartheid in Israel," she said. "It's part of a larger strategy to isolate Israel; to turn Israel into a pariah among nations so that its very right to exist will be put into question. As with South Africa, where boycotts did contribute to bring to the fall of apartheid, the expectation is that this strategy will contribute to the fall of the Israeli state.”
Feder wondered aloud why people question the right of Israel to exist and pointed out that despite atrocities in other countries, boycotts are not called for against the products of those nations.
The timing of the protest – during Shabbat – made it difficult for the entire community to protest the demonstration at 4423 Main St. that day but Elterman explained that even those who observe the Shabbat can still take part in the resistance campaign by purchasing Israeli products on Fridays or after Shabbat as the liquor stores are open late.
"It may possibly be that they're [protesters] doing it on a Saturday [during Shabbat] but we've been able to overcome that as well," said Elterman, adding that the campaign was a good way for the community to stock up on wine for Passover.
Elterman said there has been a wonderful side benefit to the nationwide campaign as it has allowed people to sample Israeli wines.
"Some of the feedback I've gotten has been that people were surprised how good Israeli wines had become. It ... introduced people to Israeli wines in an interesting way," he said.
Elterman promised that the campaign would continue each time a boycott of any Israeli product is announced. "I think we're going to see this anti-boycott approach used more widely. People are hungry in our community to do something like this, to do something very tangible and small to help Israel and our community deserves a great deal of credit," he said.
Feder believes the campaign will succeed because it will show the community's strength and determination without directly engaging its "bully.”
"At worse what will happen is that the energy of the people behind the boycott will be wasted," she said. "At best, they're going to get the message that every bully needs to get, which is we're here to stay, we're not going anywhere and we stand united."
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