Boycott of Trader Joe's over Israeli products appears to fizzle

The Trader Joe's grocery store chain finds itself in the center over a debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Organizers have called for a boycott of the chain because it stocks Israeli goods but no Palestinian goods. According to the Jewish Journal's Lilly Fowler and Tom Tugend, there were some protests in the Bay Area but apparently none in the Los Angeles area. In fact, some Jewish groups have urged people via Twitter to go to the grocery store and buy goods made in Israel:

Although “World Refugee Day,” the boycott of Trader Joe’s planned by the anti-Israel group “Don’t Buy into Apartheid,” came and went on Saturday, June 20, with no apparent incidents in Los Angeles, other cities in California did witness protestors invade the popular supermarket chain.

Kate Raphael, one of the organizers of the event, said she joined approximately 20 others as they marched into a Trader Joe’s store in Oakland, passing out hundreds of leaflets, which condemned Israel’s actions, while taking Israeli products off the shelves. Similar demonstrations happened in San Francisco and Sacramento. In Los Angeles however, the only unusual activity reported was that of local patrons walking into the national food chain to ask to buy Israeli products in specific.

More coverage from The Atlantic. Sounds like the couscous from Israel continues to sell. 

-- Shelby Grad

Photo: A Trader Joe's market at 3rd Street and La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. Credit: Luis Sinco

Comments

[Heather Czerniak]

Virtually all boycotts of Israel have failed or never caught on. When will liberals and left-wing extremists give up?

[ross]

left wing crazy friom oakland !

[bman]

What products are from Israel? What products do Palestinians want TJs to stock?

[Eric of Reseda]

While it's tragic, what's happening in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and while I genuinely feel for the fate of Palestinians, people MUST keep in mind that this is an historical conflict, and it was a mere 70 years ago that Palestine & the Palestinians threw in with the Nazi's - before the creation of the State of Israel - and sought the extermination of the Jews living there peacefully. The Grand Mufti of Palestine was fanatical in his determination to kill Jews, and in his alliance with Hitler. Now, Palistinian leadership STILL seeks the extermination of Israel and Israeli Jews. So, before you all go feeling sorry for the Palestinian people, understand that they are no saints, and have certainly earned the enmity of Israel.

[dodger tony]

Interesting. I've never tried Palestinian Gefilte fish.

[Bill Hilser]

The only thing that the Palistinians export are car bombs, and I don't think that Trader Joe's carry that item.

Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba

[Aaron Kramer]

Why not Boycott Trader Joe's and Walmart for Chinese goods? I thought the Chinese repress the Tibetans,Nepalese and support the Sudanese. Let's just pick on Israel and the 8 million citizens there instead of the elephant in the room.

[Randy Scott]

I have grown up on Trader Joe's products! They have been stocked in my home since I'm a teen. I'm an adult in my 50s.

Trader Joe's stocks QUALITY products!

These 'demonstrators' want TJ's to stock Palestinian products? I'm sorry, but Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), Molotov Cocktails and Katusha Rockets (among other Palestinian products) do not meet Trader Joe's Standards of Quality, good taste, good, healthful food and products and an atmosphere of fun, friendship and peace.

Maybe when "Palestinians" export products that include Peace, Grapefruit, Dates, Tomatoes and Bananas, TJ's will consider stocking their shelves with them!

[Fayyad]

Pathetic post. Manipulative wishful thinking. It is ironic that you would copy an indie media comment by a poster names "on ward couscous warriors 1" as if journalistic merit.

The LA Times made no mention of the Boycott so far, so why "finally" announce it has fizzled. Perhaps that's your wish?

In any case, you're wrong, along with being dishonest. The small action that took place in a few cities on Saturday is the first in a campaign. Remember when you said divestment and boycott if Israel died off back in 2003?

[Robbins Mitchell]

I have a long time friend living in LA who is a former USMC Captain and attorney who I made aware of the planned 'deshelving' of Israeli products at Trader Joe's that had been widely touted on LA Indymedia and other lefty chat boards for most of last week.....he dutifuly headed over there on Saturday afternoon with the express intention of not only buying Israeli goods but also to confront any perspective 'deshelvers' that might happen to show up....he spent several hours perusing the inventory while awaiting what he thought would be an eventual confrontation....they miscreants nevert appeared but he did purchase over $100 worth of Israeli cheese,produce,and what he termed "some excellent pogey bait"...Kosher chococlate bars for those unfamiliar with USMC vernacular....he was mildy disappointed that the 'deshelvers' never appeared but took great satisfaction in knowing that he had helped Israeli farmers and producers remain in business,while at the same time doing his part in helping to further damage what credibility Israel's American enemies in the LA area might previously have enjoyed.....Semper Fi

[tw]

WHO CARES ABOUT THIS STORY?...NOT ANYONE I KNOW...

[Fayyad]

To those making all the snarky comments about Palestinians not exporting anything, a little research is due. If you do some reading you'll find that Israel is conducting a brutal campaign of economic strangulation against Palestinians, including the prevention of exports. Truck of tomatoes and roses from the Gaza Strip destined for Europe have to sit in the desert heat for days awaiting "security checks" then they get bumped for having spoiled. Israeli coprporations like Tnuva and Osem collaborate with their government to flood the Palestinian market with subsidized product to drive Palestinian competitors like Juneidi and Sinoqrot out of business.

Why do you think the Palestinian state has no sovereign borders of its own according to Israel's interpritation of the two-state solution?

[Left Wing Liberal]

This is silly. TJ's doesn't have a political agenda.

If you want something to boycott, start with any big box store that stocks any item (not just clothing) that is made in a sweat shop in Asia. Don't buy anything that is made by slave labor. Also, boycott any chain that runs local shops out of town. Don't buy vehicles that do not get good gas mileage. That's a good start.

[East Bay Couscous warriors]

Most of the Bay area Trader Joes sold out of their Israeli products by Friday evening. By the time a half dozen protesters showed up at Rockridge Trader Joes the products were all sold out. They moved on to the Lakeshore Trader Joes- the products had already been purchased there as well.
Mattisyahu sings "From the forest itself comes the handle for the ave". The Boycott Israel actiivsts probably did more for the Israeli economy and Trader joes bottom line this weekend than any Zionist could have!

[OK]

"Why do you think the Palestinian state has no sovereign borders of its own according to Israel's interpritation of the two-state solution?"

Fayyad: I would imagine this has more to do with preventing rockets from bombarding their citizens than hampering free market competition.

[geoff]

Fayyad

why is there a blockade?

there is a blockade because, after israel pulled out of gaza, instead of building a society and using the free greenhouses that israel left for them to export goods....hamas and the arabs began a campaign of terror.

[Bob Weiss]

We took the opportunity to stock up on that delicious Israeli goat milk feta cheese and chat with the manager about our feelings on any potential "deshelving" and our desire to see Trader Joe stocking additional Israeli products.

[Peace for Israel]

I warned the manager of Whole Foods, a name which had also been on the boycott list.

I bought some Israeli cous cous there. An employee also suggested a bottle of olive oil made in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), which I didn't buy. I appreciate the freedom to make my own choices of what products I want to buy.

There are products made in the disputed territories. Wouldn't it be more productive and better for the Palestinian Arab children to create a wider market for products made in Gaza and the West Bank? Israel shipped carnations out of Gaza a few weeks ago.

Hating and defacing products is destructive. Are the anti-Israel people willing to support the Palestinian Arabs by doing things which will help them to live better lives?

[MarPorJae]

Good, this only makes more loyal customers for Trader Joe's. Why haven't the Palestinians made use of what Israel gifted to them when they left the Gaza? Why are we, in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, told what we should sell and how? TJ is selling products that are quality and in demand. Wish they had more Israeli products to offer.

[A Proud Pro-Israel Liberal from Ann Arbor]

"Virtually all boycotts of Israel have failed or never caught on. When will liberals and left-wing extremists give up?"

as posted by: Heather Czerniak | June 21, 2009 at 06:45 PM

Sorry, Heather, but I'm a left-wing liberal, and I love Israel, and I am not an anomaly! It is _because_ of my liberalism, that I support the Middle East's one and only true democracy. And--among other reasons--because of the pseudo-"liberalism" of the boycott extremists who appear to worship right-wing, fanatical, repressive, misogynist, barbaric, medieval, antisemitic neanderthals like Hamas and Hezbollah, I oppose and fight against the BIGots (our local pro-Israel name for them, taken from their own acronym, "Boycott Israeli Goods").

Please note that in ultra-liberal Ann Arbor, Michigan, the BIGots have tried three times in less than two years to force the local People's Food Co-op (PFC) to stop carrying the Israeli products it sells. The results? In 2007, their boycott Israel referendum was unequivocally crushed by a margin of 77%-23%. Shortly thereafter, a stealth candidate ran for the PFC board and was defeated. Less than a month ago, he and another fanatically anti-Israel candidate (that is their only platform plank, BTW) ran for the board of the PFC again. This time, the two BIGot candidates garnered about 10% of the vote _combined!_ This was a 9-1 totally lopsided shellacking of the boycotteers! And the PFC, like the city, is extremely liberal. So, let's please admit that Israel has support from _both_ the left and the right, as well as enemies from both sides of the aisle.

And, the BIGots didn't show up at the Ann Arbor TJ's either. The Israeli products were selling pretty well here, too, with the couscous almost sold out when I checked several days ago.

[Lewis]

I fully support boycotting all Apartheid Israeli goods. Thanks to this I will now ask everytime at Trader Joes to make sure I do not support a racist, neo-colonial apartheid state by buying their goods.

[Mike]

Hey, Lewis (June 25, 2009 at 09:17 AM): Do you support boycotting goods from Saudi Arabia (a brutal, autocratic, theocratic regime that uses medieval forms of execution such as stoning and beheading and other gimmicks like cutting off thieves' hands, etc. and sent us most of the 9/11 mass murderers) or any of the dozens of Islamic and Arab regimes where tolerance is at an absolute premium, and honor killings and other misogyny and hate-driven practices are common? Or the repressive Chinese regime that has occupied a legitimately independent and sovereign country Tibet since 1949 while brutally suppressing free speech and other human rights of its own people? I'll bet you have a lot of Chinese products in your house and on your person. But, this truly brutal regime doesn't bother you, it seems.

You're way off the mark when you call the Middle East's only true democracy "apartheid." All races and numerous creeds live in Israel in relative harmony and have equal rights (although, like the US and everywhere else, there is certainly discrimination there, but nothing like what you see in the Palestinian-controlled territories, or Darfur where Moslems slaughter and rape other Moslems and "infidels," or Pakistan and Iraq where Moslems blow up each other's mosques not to mention churches and temples, or Afghanistan where girls' schools are torched and blown up by the wonderful Taliban or Burma or Zimbabwe or scores of other truly brutal regimes). In Israel, all its citizens--regardless of their skin color or religion--can vote and are represented in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Show me any Moslem or Arab government where Jews and other minorities have anything even barely approaching the freedoms that minorities in Israel enjoy.

Anti-Zionists always single out Israel as the target of their hatred because it is the world's only _Jewish_ state; that is the obvious difference in their particular feud with Israel despite their denials. Since this attempt to deny Jews their own country--and a very tiny one it is, esp. compared with almost all the surrounding Arab and Islamic states--is certainly an insidious form of antisemitism, it is plain that anti-Zionism is racism.

And, Lewis, by the way, TJ's has utterly rejected your bigoted call for a boycott of Israeli goods. In fact, since you and others have called for this embargo, Trader Joe's has been selling its Israeli goods at a faster rate than they can keep them stocked. So, thank you for helping Israel with your notorious singling out of their fine products. I suppose the irony is lost on you.

[Adam Kratt]

I would rather shop at Trader Joes, not only are their prices low but they carry Israeli products.. I refuse to shop at Whole Foods which is pricey but Whole Foods refuses to carry Israeli Goods and supports "Radio Intifada" at KPFK

[Jose Matamoros]

I'm a supporter of Israel no matter what. The more anti-semites and pro-terrorists call for boycotts; the more i will spend and encourage my friends to support Israel financially by buying anything made there. .

The only democracy in the middle east deserves my money because it earns it by producing with quality and innovation.

[MJ]

if you really want to boycott Israel, please do it right and boycott All their products including all computers that use the intel processor, or microsoft, most if not all cellular phones and many other everyday products that you use without thought. I do have to say thank you, just by reading and posting here, you have failed your boycott and supported Israel.