Members of the c-store specialist called on the retailer’s board to “demonstrate fairness and consistency with its ethical decision-making” at the AGM over the weekend.
The motion, which carried 72.8% of the membership’s vote, said that The Co-op should demonstrate “moral courage and leadership” by removing all Israeli products from its shelves.
It comes after Co-op members had last month demanded the retailer cease all trade with Israel, saying it had “completely destroyed Gaza” and that the c-store specialist shouldn’t support the country’s “apartheid economy”.
“Since October 2023, Israel has completely destroyed Gaza and wiped out its key infrastructure—including schools, hospitals and universities,” the motion statement said, before drawing comparisons to the Co-op’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The Co-op was the first supermarket to boycott Russian products in March 2022,” it pointed out. “A week after the invasion of Ukraine. We urge the Board to show moral courage and leadership, apply the same ethical principles and values it did to Russia, and take all Israeli products off the shelves.”
However, it added “the nature of international supply chains means that it is very often impossible, impractical or unsafe to stop sourcing products entirely from specific countries”.
The Co-op board also said it hasn’t “sourced products from Israeli settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories since 2007” in response to a motion bought by members at the time.
A spokesman for Co-op said: “While the motion is advisory, we are currently reviewing our sourcing policies which we do from time to time. This is to ensure they reflect both our values and principles and views of our members, which they have made clear today.
“We expect our review on the sourcing policy to complete towards the end of the summer.”
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