Below is a statement from the Jewish Community Relations Council on Rainbow Grocery's boycott of products made in Israel.

December 4, 2002

RAINBOW GROCERY ISRAEL BOYCOTT

The following statement was issued today by David Steirman, President of the Jewish Community Relations Council, which represents more than 80 synagogues and Jewish organizations in the Bay Area on public affairs issues of concern to the organized Jewish community.

The Jewish Community Relations Council is deeply disappointed and angered that Rainbow Grocery, which has been patronized by a significant number of our community members and has a strong reputation as a progressive institution, has chosen to boycott Israeli-made products.

The explanation on the store's website that only "two departments decided to remove the Israeli products that they carried from the shelf" and that they "allow our departments wide latitude in their purchasing decisions" is disingenuous at best. The store's leadership is permitting a boycott to take place on its premises and bears responsibility for that decision.

This boycott is not only deeply offensive; it is also misguided. Economic warfare against Israel in the form of boycotts is a failed tactic that has been employed by Israel's detractors and enemies since the establishment of the State of Israel. According to Rainbow Grocery's public relations department, the store is not boycotting products from any other country, even though there are dozens of countries whose human rights records are, by any objective standard, abysmal.

The singling out of the democratic state of Israel is nothing short of an antagonistic and discriminatory act. The damage cannot be mitigated simply by stating, as the store has, that it will continue to carry kosher and other Jewish products from other countries or that other departments within the store do not support the boycott.

We call upon Rainbow Grocery to rescind its boycott immediately. We have offered to meet with the management of the store to convey our concerns. Until such time that the store eliminates its double-standard against Israel, we urge members of the community - Jewish and non-Jewish - to contact the store by telephone, email and fax to send a strong message of protest.

Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma and Alameda Counties
121 Steuart Street, Suite 301 San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 957-1551 www.jcrc.org