Britain's Co-Op to Stop Sourcing From Israel

Co-op Group Ends Product Sourcing from Israel Amid Human Rights Concerns

By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) -British food retailer the Co-op Group will cease sourcing products and ingredients from 17 countries, including Israel, where there are "internationally recognised" human rights abuses and violations of international law, it said on Tuesday.

The Co-op, which is owned by its members and trades from over 2,300 food stores across the UK, said it would stop selling carrots from Israel from this month as part of a commitment to no longer stock Israeli goods.

The company's prohibited list, which also includes Russian vodka and mangoes from Mali, follows a board review of the Co-op’s role "in building peace".

European nations have been increasingly critical of the civilian toll of Israel's military campaign against Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli communities.

Other countries on the Co-op list include Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Libya and Syria.

"The voices of our members have been listened to and then acted upon," Debbie White, chair of the Co-op Group board, said.

"As a business, we have a long-standing legacy of doing the right thing, supporting Fairtrade and championing ethical sourcing, and this policy is a natural progression of this."

Tesco, Britain's biggest food retailer, does not source products from Israeli settlements within the occupied Palestinian territories. However, along with other UK retailers it does source from Israel in line with government advice.

Last month, the independent board of Ben & Jerry's said the conflict in Gaza was a genocide, escalating a bitter feud between the ice cream maker and its longtime London-based corporate parent Unilever.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Jan Harvey)