Special Update & Action Request

Member requests to remove Sabra Hummus from the shelves at Willy Street co-op have passed the threshold needed to trigger a two-week comment period, after which the management will have three weeks to decide.

If you are a co-op member, we need you to take action by Monday, Dec. 16, when the member comment period will end. You can comment on line (links below) or by filling out a form at any of the three co-op locations.

Be sure to comment even if you already requested Sabra’s removal during the past 6 months.

(If you aren’t a member, you can still help by joining this informational picket and leafleting on Saturday Dec. 14, 1-3 pm at the North Side store, and spreading the word to any co-op members that you know.)

So far, a large majority of comments favor removal, but some opposition has begun to surface. In order to sway the management, which makes the final decision, we need our comments to continue to be overwhelming.

Finally, remember that we are not alone: check out this story about the East End food co-op in Pittsburgh from Mondoweiss.

As always, thanks for your support.

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IMPORTANT UPDATE!!  WE NEED YOU!

Member requests to remove Sabra have triggered a 2-week comment period that ends December 16, after which management has 3 weeks to decide. 

Please click HERE to visit the Co-Op comment link and leave your comment !!   

Please ask them to do the right thing and get Sabra out of the Northside store, via the co-op website or a member comment card at any store.

Sabra is a US-based company that produces Middle Eastern-type foods including hummus. Sabra is jointly owned by PepsiCo and The Strauss Group, an Israeli multinational corporation with a long history of providing funding and direct support to the Golani and Givati Israeli military brigades.  It’s reported that Strauss has just sold its 50% share of Sabra to its co-owner, PepsiCo, after years of declining sales. However PepsiCo remains on the boycott list (download the BoyCat app for more info) due to its profiting from Israeli company SodaStream.  For further information and background about the Sabra boycott, see this fact sheet prepared by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.

The Sabra boycott was started over a decade ago in response to years of human rights violations and war crimes committed by these two brigades in Lebanon and Palestine. Both brigades are currently participating in Israel’s war on Gaza.

The current Israeli military assault has inflicted suffering and devastation upon the people of our sister community of Rafah and Gaza as a whole on a scale that is almost impossible for us to describe or comprehend. It is no exaggeration to say that war crimes have been committed. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Palestinians have been killed, maimed, and starved — an estimated 70 percent of them women and children — in what many now agree meets the international definition of genocide. All this with the full financial, political and military backing of our own government using our own tax dollars and weapons.

Of course we ask everyone not to purchase Sabra Hummus anywhere it is sold. But Willy Street says that it is not just another grocery store. It prides itself on many aspects of social responsibility.  Israel’s actions in Gaza (and also in the West Bank and Lebanon) and their  use of starvation as a weapon of war, do not represent co-op values.

The co-op already carries other delicious and affordable ready-to-eat hummus brands, including locally produced Bunky’s and the similarly priced Minnesota-based Baba’s. The benefits of removing Sabra far outweigh any minor inconvenience to co-op members.

Coming together to take Sabra off the Willy Street shelves is a real and concrete act of solidarity with the civilian population of Palestine. Consumer boycotts are a time-honored form of non-violent action. They allow us to vote with our wallets — especially when our politicians aren’t listening — and let corporations know what we won’t tolerate. The people of Rafah, the rest of Palestine and of Lebanon desperately need us to use our purchasing choices now to assert OUR right not to kill and to support THEIR right to continue living. It is the least we can do.

Thank you so much for your participation in this campaign!!

Please click HERE to leave a comment on the Co-op Comment Page!! 

Thank You!!

Madison-Rafah Sister City Project Members Samir Alomari, Aicha Amiri, Rowan Atalla, Cassandra Dixon, Amy Atalla Hill, Lisa Masri, Barbara Olson, Donna Wallbaum, and Kathy Walsh