The international development organisation Oxfam is currently facing a dilemma. Since 2005, the actor Scarlett Johansson has worked with them as a ‘global ambassador’, and has reportedly helped the organisation considerably with their work.

It has emerged that Johansson has recently signed up to do a similar job for SodaStream – the deeply unethical Israeli company targeted around the world for boycott, due to their complicity in illegal settlement expansion and human rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In response to a letter-writing campaign, the Oxfam CEO Mark Goldring has stated publicly that Oxfam “is opposed to trade from Israeli settlements, in which Sodastream is engaged. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and have a devastating effect on the lives and livelihoods of the Palestinian communities that Oxfam works with. Trade with businesses operating in settlements exacerbates the ongoing poverty and denial of Palestinians’ rights that Oxfam addresses in its work.”

Significantly, he states that Oxfam “are now engaged in a dialogue with Scarlett Johansson on these important issues”.

Oxfam is clearly embarrassed by Johansson’s partnership with SodaStream, and is looking for a way to save face all around. And the pressure on the organisation is acute, since SodaStream has recorded a major TV advert starring Scarlett Johansson to be broadcast during the TV coverage of the US football Superbowl on the 2nd of February. If the advert goes out and she remains Oxfam’s ‘celebrity ambassador’, Oxfam’s reputation and popular respect amongst people of conscience will suffer a serious blow.

The furore has attracted considerable media attention. See for example the coverage on Mondoweiss.

The Oxfam CEO Mark Goldring can be contacted at mgoldring@oxfam.org.uk.

The managers of the Globe Theatre in London, along with hundreds of passers-by on London’s south bank, will have been left in no doubt about the strength of opposition to the Globe’s invitation to the Israeli National Theatre Company, Habima, to perform as part of the ‘Cultural Olympiad’.

In the hours before the performance on Monday 28th May, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters made their presence felt in a noisy but peaceful demonstration outside the theatre, and inside the theatre the performance was disrupted several times by protesters who unfurled banners and shouted ‘Israeli Apartheid Leave the Stage’.

Lyn Gardner in the Guardian reported that it was ‘an evening that held as much drama off stage as it did on: the production took place amid airport-style security and pro-Palestinian protests were held both outside the theatre and during the performance. For much of the first half, a woman stood up in one of the galleries silently in protest, her mouth taped shut. Others were removed.’

For full coverage of the protest, follow the links below:

The BBC version of events
The Press Release from the Boycott Israel Network
Tony Greenstein’s blog account
A lively account in The Independent
Numerous video clips on YouTube posted by Art4Palestine

On April the 27th the Cooperative Group board made a historic and welcome decision to extend their Human Rights & Trade Policy to include all companies who trade in the illegal settlements. While the Co-op’s policy shift isn’t a complete boycott of all Israeli companies, we do recognise what an important advance this is for the BDS movement: the 5th biggest UK food retailer and the biggest Co-operative society in Europe will be boycotting four complicit companies and have promised that evidence of other companies’ illegal trading activity, if proven, will result in the policy applying to those companies too.

 The Co-operative Group have demonstrated that human rights can come before profit, which is something Israel is desperate to ensure doesn’t become the norm. Now is the time to send a clear message to other food retailers and UK companies, that ethical trading does make a difference and people should always come before profit. You can start by writing a letter to Len Wardle, Chair of the Co-operative Group expressing your appreciation of the policy change. You can do this whether or not you are a member of the Co-op.

Sample letter for Co-op members

Sample letter for other supporters

Boycott Israel Network (BIN) media release
Saturday 28 April 2012

Palestine human rights campaigners today welcomed news that the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, The Co-operative Group, will “no longer engage with any supplier of produce known to be sourcing from the Israeli settlements”.

The Co-op’s decision, notified to campaigners in a statement, will immediately impact four suppliers: Agrexco, Arava Export Growers, Adafresh and Mehadrin, Israel’s largest agricultural export company.  Mehadrin sources produce from illegal settlements, including Beqa’ot in the Occupied Jordan Valley.  During interviews with researchers, Palestinian workers in the settlement said they earn as little as €11 per day.  Grapes and dates packaged in the settlement were all labelled ‘Produce of Israel’.

Read the full press release