Mike L.
{Editor's note - I received the email below from DrMike of the Blue Truth blog whom some of you may know from Divestthis! Mike works with, among other groups, the San Francisco chapter of Stand With Us. The reason that I am posting what he has written below is not because I expect our readership in the Bay Area to turn out in great numbers for the Buycott, although that would be the right thing to do, but because I want to emphasize that Jewish people, and friends of Jewish people, are working on the local level all around the country to help bring justice to the besieged Jews of the Middle East. - ML}
Buy Israel Goods week starts Monday February 25!
Once again, it's time for a BIG week-- Buy Israeli Goods.
One of the most important things we can do to support Israel is not only to buy Israeli goods, but to buy them from merchants who have been the target of BDS bullies because they sell them.
As many of you have read in J Weekly (http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/67833/buy-israel-week-standwithus-stands-by-area-shops/) or seen on our Facebook page, two weeks ago we quietly organized a group of shoppers to support Cliff's Variety, a small family-owned store in the Castro district of San Francisco that has specifically been targeted by the BDS hate crew for defying their orders and continuing to sell Sodastream devices and mixes. Watch this short clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl85AL1l0H0 to see how SodaStream promotes coexistence, and meet some of the Arab employees whose jobs the BDSers want to take away.
The staff at Cliff's was delighted to see several dozen shoppers (carrying Buy Israeli Goods shopping bags) coming in to buy from them to thank them for standing up to BDS intimidation. And once again, a positive, friendly BUYcott overcame a negative, hate-filled BOYcott effort.
Especially for San Francisco residents, those who wish to buy a Sodastream device (or need to stock up on the mixes) will get a very friendly welcome at Cliff's Variety (479 Castro St between 17th and 18th).
Another small, locally owned store repeatedly targeted by hate groups is Zand Market at 1401 Solano Avenue in Albany. They not only carry imported goods but also their own Mediterranean and Middle Eastern foods.
A partial listing of stores that carry Israeli products is at BuyIsraelGoods.org (note that some of the information there may not be current).
Solano County Israel series--final event this Tuesday
The fifth and final talk in the Israel: Separating Fact from Fiction series will take place in Fairfield on Tuesday night February 26. The speaker will be Gary Kenzer, US director of Honest Reporting (www.honestreporting.com). Honest Reporting is one of the major media watchdog organizations addressing biased media coverage about Israel. This will be a very informative evening! You can register at jewishsolano.com/israelcourse.
San Francisco Voice for Israel/Stand With Us
www.SFVoiceForIsrael.org
www.StandWithUs. com
Join the SF Voice For Israel group on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22259707003
Follow us on Twitter @sfv4i
Visit our Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/SFVoice4Israel/featured
I will have to re-up my stash of ptitim (Israeli couscous) in a few days, anyway. As good a time as any. They're correct that the list is incomplete, btw. The SuperFresh on 2nd at Girard, where I pick that up, isn't on the list. And neither is the museum store at NMAJH, which I'm quite sure carries an Israeli item or three... ;)
ReplyDeleteI just love the fact that when the Nazis announce their boycott the Jews come out and buy everything that they can.
DeleteIt slays me.
I read an article about 2 years ago in which some wine seller in Montreal or Toronto was interviewed and he said something like, "Yeah, we sell Israeli wines and then these people came in and made a bunch of noise and it got on the news. The very next day we sold out of Israeli wine!"
I just love that.
:O)
Yeah, same here.
DeleteAnd for the record, I never would have started buying this stuff if it wasn't for BDS. When I have a little more discretionary income, I will branch out to Israeli wines and whatnot, too.