Jewish residents demonstrate outside new Hampstead Garden Suburb Co-Op

Jewish residents demonstrated outside a new branch of Co-Op Food in North West London because of the company’s boycott of some Israeli products.

On Thursday, protestors shouted “shame on you” outside the new store, in Hampstead Garden Suburb, which opens on Friday.

They told the JC that passers-by might not know the chain has a policy of not buying products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

“The problem is the Co-op has been taken over by its members. It has been in fluxed by Palestinian Solidarity Campaign supporters and their BDS policy,” Sharon Klaff, one of around 15 people who attended, told the JC.

“The only thing they target is Israel and that is what antisemitic.”

Controversial journalist Rod Liddle was there to support the group and shoot a short film about it for the Sunday Times.

He told the JC: “It is only recently that the Jewish people in in this country have been protesting... the climate for them has become very unpleasant.

“I think it is heartening to see the best integrated group of people in this country standing up for their rights and standing up against the stupid political correctness of the liberal left.”

He added: “I love the Co-op. I banked with the Co-op, all my family have been buried with the Co-op, it is a north of England thing, which is where I am from, but not anymore.

“It has been captured by the same idiocy as the Labour party.”

The Co-operative Group does not trade in goods from places "where there is a broad international consensus that the status of a designated region or state is illegal".

It specifically cites "Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories". It says: “We do not source any produce or own-brand products from the Israeli settlements.

"In April 2012, our Board determined that, going forward, we will additionally no longer engage with any supplier of produce known to be sourcing from the Israeli settlements.

“We can categorically state that this position does not constitute a boycott of Israeli businesses. We remain committed to sourcing produce from and trading with Israeli suppliers that do not source from the settlements.”