Boycott Israel stickers cropping up on products throughout Canada

Jewish Defense League lodges complaints with federal authorities in Canada.

By JTA
Updated: MARCH 20, 2016 19:28
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (photo credit: REUTERS)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(photo credit: REUTERS)
TORONTO — More stickers advising consumers not to purchase products made in Israel are popping up across Canada.
Facebook posts now show the stickers on Sabra hummus, Keter and SodaStream products, Glutino biscuits, dates and tangerines at grocers, and at hardware stores in Montreal, Winnipeg, Hamilton and Brampton, Ontario, and other towns in British Columbia.
“Warning!” the stickers state. “Do not buy this product. Made in Israel: A country violating international law, the 4th Geneva Convention, and fundamental human rights…#BDS.”
The labels are being distributed free by the Montreal-based Canadians for Justice & Peace in the Middle East, or CJPME, which launched the sticker campaign after the House of Commons voted last month to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, campaign against Israel.
“CJPME was specifically cited in the parliamentary motion targeting organizations supporting economic action against Israel, and CJPME has launched its new campaign in response,” the group said on its website.
In recent week, the stickers had been affixed to bottles of Israeli wine in Vancouver, British Columbia, and to grocery products in Calgary, Alberta.
Both affected companies removed the labels and vowed increased vigilance.
CJPME is urging activists to post Facebook pictures of the labels stuck on products.
The Jewish Defense League of Canada has written to the federal minister of public safety that “conspiring with other groups and persons to willfully damage business premises and impeding people from carrying on normal business … must be stopped.”
Also, the JDL said it has brought the matter to the attention of the Canada Revenue Agency, as CJPME’s charitable arm, the CJPME Foundation, is registered as a federal charity that issues tax receipts for donations and lists the same address as the CJPME.