Daphne Anson: UK Supreme Court Rejects Final Appeal by "The Ahava Four"

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Thursday, 6 February 2014

UK Supreme Court Rejects Final Appeal by "The Ahava Four"

Malevolence on Monmouth Streer

The much maligned Ahava store in London's Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, which as chronicled regularly on Richard Millett's blog was subjected to regular protests by BDSers (opposed by a valiant group of counter-protesters, some of whom were Christians made the journey from Wales to stand in solidarity with Israel), closed its doors in September 2011.

Yesterday, four BDSers who chained themselves to a concrete block inside the store late in 2010, had their convictions for criminal trespass by district judge Ian Baker early in 2011 upheld by the United Kingdom's Supreme Court.

The so-called "Ahava Four", who claimed to be protesting against “war crimes” committed by the cosmetics company (based in Mitzpe Shalom in the West Bank) and also argued that Ahava’s products are "misleadingly" labelled as having been made in Israel, had already had two appeals against their conviction quashed.

Bicom (Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre) reports on its website:

'In its ruling, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that an Israeli company operating in the West Bank is contravening the Geneva Convention unless they encourage people to actually move there. The judgement stated that any link to a breach of the Convention “was not an integral part of the activity carried on at the shop, which was retail selling.”

On the issue of labelling, the Supreme Court said that the selling of mislabelled goods is not an offence in itself, if they have not been labelled by those actually selling the goods. Significantly, the ruling also said that labelling goods as having been manufactured in Israel when they have been produced in the West Bank would in any case probably not constitute an offence, as the number of people whose purchase might be influenced by such a distinction was sufficiently small as to be immaterial.'

2 comments:

Shimona from the Palace7 February 2014 at 06:46
"The much maligned Ahava store... was subjected to regular protests by BDSers..."

I think it would be more accurate to say that the store (and its customers) were subjected to regular harassment - which went way beyond mere "protests".
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