Tag: Ahava

Ahava’s theft of occupied natural resources finally exposed

21 May 2011 | Jordan Valley Solidarity

After years of strenuous denial, Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, an Israeli cosmetics firm with its main manufacturing plant in an illegal West Bank settlement, is proven by documentary evidence to be in violation of international law through its theft of Palestinian resources. This evidence was recently discovered by Who Profits, a research project of the Israeli Coalition for Peace, which documents corporate activity in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territory.

Prior to this finding representatives of Ahava repeatedly claimed that the company does not make use of natural resources from the West Bank: “the mud and materials used in Ahava cosmetics products are not excavated in an occupied area. The mud is mined in the Israeli part of the Dead Sea, which is undisputed internationally”. The new findings prove that the company was given a license for excavating minerals in 2004 from the Israeli Civil Administration, which is the representative of the Israeli government in the Occupied West Bank, and that the excavation site on the occupied shores of the Northern Dead Sea is currently active. By making use of mud that is excavated in the occupied area the company is violating international humanitarian law (the laws of occupation), which prohibits the plundering of natural resources from the occupied territory. Merav Amir, Coordinator of Who Profits, said, “Ahava can no longer continue misleading consumers about where they get the mud used in their products. This mud is from the Occupied West Bank and is stolen from the Palestinian people.”

Nancy Kricorian, the manager for CODEPINK’s Stolen Beauty Ahava Boycott (www.stolenbeauty.org), an international campaign against the company’s violations of international law, said, “Ahava’s CEO has been circulating a letter to retailers that we thought was filled with lies, and now Who Profits has provided us with the evidence to prove it.”

The company is still reeling from the public relations setback of an explosive new report issued on May 5th by B’tselem, a leading Israeli human rights group, which calls Ahava out by name as an occupation profiteer. Ahava representatives have yet to respond to B’tselem’s report, and the company’s reputation is now further tarnished by this just discovered documentary proof of its violations of international law.

BDS victory against Ahava in UK

31 March 2011 | Anna Stevens

In a victory for the BDS movement, the UK flagship store of Ahava has been forced to relocate after years of protests and direct action. Ahava, an Israeli company which sells cosmetic products produced in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem has been a target for protesters in the UK who have sought to drive it out of London and challenge the legality of the company’s practices. In the past two and a half years protesters have blockaded the shop a number of times, preventing the store from trading. Ahava have so far been unsuccessful in securing any convictions for these actions in court. Under UK law, the crime of aggravated trespass is committed if one disrupts or obstructs a lawful activity on someone else’s property. However activists have argued that Ahava’s business is not lawful as it operates out of an illegal settlement. Ahava has also been under scrutiny for labelling its products as ‘made in Israel’ misleading customers and violating domestic consumer law. They have also been accused of evading tax by mislabelling their products.

Every fortnight the UK flagship store in Covent Garden, London is the site of a protest which regularly draws in large numbers of BDS and Palestine supporters. According to The Jewish Chronicle online these protests have resulted in complaints being made against the company by the neighbouring businesses which have led to a decision not to renew their lease when it expires. The protests have also seemingly effected Ahava UK’s profits, with their accounts up until the end of 2009 showing a total loss of more than £250,000, despite receiving more than £300,000 from its Israeli parent company, with no repayment plan.

Tribunal finds international businesses complicit in Israeli war crimes

22 November 2010 | Russel Tribunal

Tribunal finds British and international business complicit in Israeli war crimes, identifies legal remedies and calls for civil society boycott action

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine this morning announced its verdict after weekend deliberations. The jury said it had been presented with “compelling evidence of corporate complicity in Israeli violations of international law”.

Juror Michael Mansfield QC, who chaired this morning’s press conference, announced the jury’s call for the mobilisation of civil
society to end the involvement of companies in Israeli human rights violations.

Both Israel and the complicit businesses, are in clear violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, he said. This relates to “the supply of arms; the construction and maintenance of the illegal separation Wall” and providing services to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

In its public statement, the Russell Tribunal named seven examples of corporations complicit in Israeli violations, including British-Danish prison firm G4S which supplies equipment to Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank.

The public statement is available in full on the Russell Tribunal website www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com

Israel is in “flagrant disregard” of international law and is on the wrong side of world opinion, and morality said Mr. Mansfield.

Juror and South African liberation struggle veteran Ronnie Kasrils said one “can not underestimate the importance” of civil society action on boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

The jury concluded there were positive legal ramifications for those took action on boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.“Those who wish to actively protest about this, are entitled to do so,” said Mr. Mansfield. Those prosecuted for criminal damages have a defence: necessity.

The press conference heard breaking news of such an action happening in Covent Garden this morning, as activists shut down Ahava, an Israeli business based in a West Bank settlement.

The statements from those corporations who chose to engage with the tribunal will be annexed to the final report of the London session. This full report will be available in at the beginning of December.

It will identify specific legal remedies in the case of the many companies involved in Israeli human rights violations.

BDS court victory in London: ‘Ahava four’ found not guilty of trespass in Israeli store

11 August 2010 | ISM London

Four campaigners against Israeli apartheid were acquitted yesterday (August 10th) of all charges related to two direct action protests against the Israeli cosmetics retailer Ahava in Covent Garden, London. The campaigners locked themselves onto concrete-filled oil drums inside the shop, closing it down for two days in September and December of 2009.

The campaigners insist that they are legally justified in their actions as the shop’s activities are unlawful. All cosmetics on sale in the shop originate from Mitzpe Shalem, an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, and are deliberately mislabelled “Made in Israel”.

To date, no campaigner has been successfully prosecuted and Ahava has consistently refused to cooperate with the prosecuting authorities.

On the first day of trial, prosecutors dropped aggravated trespass charges. This would have required the prosecution to demonstrate Ahava was engaged in lawful activity. Significantly, the CPS decided that this was not something they would attempt to prove.

The primary witness for the prosecution, Ahava’s store manager, refused to attend court to testify despite courts summons and threats of an arrest warrant leading to the activist’s acquittal on all remaining charges.

Ms Crouch, one of the four acquitted today said: “This is a small victory in the wider campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. We’ll continue to challenge corporate complicity in the occupation and Israel’s impunity on the international stage.”

Mr Matthews, another acquitted campaigner, added: “The message is clear. If your company is involved in apartheid and war crimes and occupying Palestinian land, people will occupy your shop.”

The British government, the European Union, the United Nations and the International Court of Justice all consider Israel’s settlements to be illegal, as they are in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention are also criminal offences under UK law (International Criminal Court Act 2001).

For more information please contact the defendant’s solicitor Simon Natas on: 0208 522 7707 (UK)

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. In December 2009, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) issued guidance to retailers concerning produce grown in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It states that: “The Government considers that traders would be misleading consumers and would therefore almost be certainly committing an offence, if they were to declare produce from the OPT (including from the West Bank) as ‘Produce of Israel’. This would apply irrespective of whether the produce was from a Palestinian producer or from an Israeli settlement in the OPT. This is because the area does not fall within the internationally recognised borders if the state of Israel.”

DEFRA Technical advice: labelling of produce grown in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, 11 December 2009

2. The BDS initiative [7] was born in 2005 through a call by Palestinian civil society groups and organisations seeking a global non-violent means to challenge the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine. It has been taken up by numerous groups and organisations internationally and has become a unifying global movement for those seeking justice for Palestine.

International ISM groups show solidarity with Palestine and reveal Zionist practices abroad

International Solidarity Movement

05 April 2010

H&M Occupation fashion show in Gothenburg, Sweden

ISM groups from around the world are taking the anti-apartheid and anti-occupation campaigns, plus a bit of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) revolution out of Palestine and into the streets of their home countries. Here is a summary of some of the action from the past week.

ISM London took the opportunity to tell Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat how the world feels about the recently announced plan to build 1600 new homes in occupied East Jerusalem and to draw connections between the Israeli state and the apartheid South African regime. At the March 22, 2010 demonstration held outside of London’s Chatham House, over 100 activists made it clear that Israeli’s ethnic cleansing policy and anyone who represents it, is not welcome in London!
To read the full story visit ISM London.

One week later, ISM activists from across England disrupted the IOF sponsored Jerusalem Quartet during their performance at Wigmore Hall in London. The Jerusalem Quartet receives special designations from the IOF and plays regularly for the occupying forces. This action was to promote the cultural boycott of Israel. Palestinians are calling urgently for an international consumer and cultural boycott after decades of failed talks. As with Apartheid South Africa, we must respond – until Israel meets its obligations under international law and a just solution is agreed. BDS supporters agree that states which maintain occupation and violates international law do not deserve invitations to cultural promotion events. To read the full story visit ISM London.

The Ahava Dead Sea beauty product shop in central London received a visit from ISM activists. Ahava manufactures its goods in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalan in the occupied territories (Click here for more information). This was the second demonstration at the Ahava shop in an ongoing BDS campaign of Israeli products. A third demonstration is planned for April 10, 2010. Read the full story here.

The fashion capitol of the world, Paris, France, participated in unveiling H&M’s new Occupation Spring Collection. On March 20, 2010, over fifty activists dressed in army fatigues complete with plastic guns and clown noses, educated H&M shoppers of their inadvertent support of Israeli’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land and apartheid policies.
Swedish ISM activists are also actively participating in BDS actions. March 31, 2010, activists participated in their own H&M Occupation Fashion show in an H&M shop in Gothenburg. Activists strutted their Israel apartheid clothing along a catwalk while distributing information to potential H&M customers. Click to read the ISM Swedish report.

If your Palestine solidarity group has actions you’d like to share with the world, please send them to us! Solidarity from abroad offers hope to those suffering at home.