Vancouver anti-Israel protest: “Boycott Israeli Wines Picket, Mark Nakba 71”

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Anti Israel protest in Vancouver. Photo: Facebook – screenshot

An anti-Israel demonstration is scheduled for May 18, 2019. The event titled “Boycott Israeli Wines Picket, Mark Nakba 71” is hosted by Canadian BDS Coalition, BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories, Canada Palestine Association and Boycott Israeli Wines – Don’t Drink with Apartheid.

Here is the statement made by the organizers:

Boycott Israeli Wines Picket, Mark Nakba 71

Saturday, May 18, 2019 at 4:15 PM – 5 PM PDT

BC Liquor Store, SFU Harbour Centre, Gather W. Cordova entrance near Seymour across from Sea

(This event will follow the public meeting Nakba71 – The Palestinian Narrative at SFU Harbour Centre and is also part of the Nakba 71 -Cross Canada Day of Action to End Canadian Complicity)

David Eby, BC’s Attorney General, is responsible for the provincial Liquor Distribution Branch. For many years, there has been an ongoing local campaign to call for a boycott of Israeli wines, many of them produced in the Occupied Territories, which are being sold in our publicly owned BC Liquor Stores. We had hoped that the NDP government would be more concerned with these blatant violations of international human rights; we asked Mr. Eby to respond to this issue but received exactly the same response we got from previous governments, which was to completely ignore the issues raised and instead focus solely on “personal choice”.

The wines in question are either from the Galil Winery, which is a joint venture with the Golan Heights Winery (the name of which speaks for itself), or from the occupied West Bank, including the illegal Gush Etzion settlement bloc around Jerusalem. Two wines of particular note are the Efrat Judean Hills Kosher and Vision Malbec, both produced by the Israeli Teperberg Winery. This winery openly states that some of its vineyards are in occupied Palestinian territories and even provides a map on its website showing vineyards in the occupied West Bank.

All of this is in direct contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention and “stated” Canadian policy. Detailed information on Israeli wineries can be found in the exhaustive study done by “Who Profits” entitled Forbidden Fruit: Israeli Wine Industry and Occupation.i Wines Picket, Mark Nakba 71.”