In April 2012, the Co-operative, Britain’s fifth-largest food retailer, declared it would no longer be importing agricultural produce from the territories or any Israeli supplier linked to produce from there. Five years earlier, retail giant Marks & Spencer announced that it was boycotting products from the West Bank, while the Tesco supermarket chain stopped marketing dates from the Jordan Valley.
And they are not alone: Over the past few years, numerous other companies from various countries around the world have announced some kind of a boycott of Israeli goods or companies.
"A consumer boycott of Israeli goods primarily affects agricultural and fresh produce, as it is marked as made in Israel," says Israel Export Institute chairman Ramzi Gabbay. "Most of the Israeli industrial exports are unmarked so even if there is a boycott, it's an unofficial one imposed by an individual business that prefers not to work with Israel."
"Many international companies purchase parts of products, such as electronic components, with the final customer for the device having no idea of their origin anyway. In most instances, businesses do the profitability math before considering politics," Gabbay adds.
The boycott of Israel is not being felt only in the field of agriculture. In the banking sector, for example, Denmark's largest bank, Danske Bank, has announced a boycott of Bank Hapoalim due to the latter's activities in the territories and its involvement in "violations of international law."
Norwegian bank, Nordea, has demanded clarifications from Bank Leumi and Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank on the scope of their activities in the settlements. Dutch pension fund PGGM has also announced that it will stop investing in Israel's major banks because they are "funding construction in the territories."
Israeli real-estate companies and security firms are also taking a blow: In 2009, the Norwegian government's pension fund, AP, sold its shares in Elbit Systems because of the Israeli company's involvement in the construction of the separation barrier. AP also announced that it would not invest in the Housing and Construction Holding Company. And Norway's oil fund, considered the largest in the world with assets of $810 billion, has decided not to invest in Africa Israel and Danya Cebus due to their involvement in construction in the settlements.
And in other areas: The world's largest security company, G4S of Britain, has ended all its contracts with the Israeli government that are linked to security for the settlements; Germany's national rail company, Deutsche Bahn, has pulled out of the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem train line project claiming that the project includes tunnels that pass through the territories; Dutch water company Vitens has severed ties with Israel's Mekorot; and the list goes on.
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