BDS: French retailer Carrefour is complicit in Israel’s crimes

The pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has launched a global campaign to boycott France-based multinational retailer Carrefour Group.

In a statement Monday, the Palestinian National Committee to Boycott Israel, the largest coalition of Palestinian political parties leading the BDS movement, accused the company of being “deeply involved in the Israeli apartheid regime’s illegal settlement enterprise, which constitutes a war crime under international law.” Fiona Ben Chekroun, the BDS movement’s European coordinator, called for the expansion of campaigns to boycott Israeli companies involved in settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

“We call for a global boycott of the Carrefour Group and its divestment until it ends this criminal partnership with these two complicit Israeli companies and stops all sales of products from illegal Israeli settlements in its supermarkets and convenience stores.” The Carrefour Group recently signed a franchise agreement with Israeli companies Electra Consumer Products and its subsidiary Yenot Bitan, both of which operate in Israeli settlements.

“Carrefour’s decision to do business with Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise makes it complicit in war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation regime against the indigenous Palestinian population, as well as settler colonialism and apartheid,” Chekroun said. A multinational retailer, the Carrefour Group has more than 3,400 stores worldwide.

Rita Ahmad, the BDS campaign coordinator for the Arab world, said boycotts can pressure the company to end this complicity. “Israel can only maintain its regime of settler colonialism and apartheid over the Palestinian people by supporting governments, corporations and institutions that must be held accountable for their role in perpetuating a decades-old racist regime of injustice and oppression.”

“Carrefour relies on its image and reputation to attract customers. Effective grassroots movements that expose Carrefour’s complicity in Israeli war crimes against indigenous Palestinians can pressure the company to end that complicity.” BDS calls on people and groups around the world to sever economic, cultural and academic ties with Tel Aviv and help advance the Palestinian cause. Since 2005, the boycott campaign has sought to sanction all Israeli products made in occupied Palestinian land.