Is Israel's Government Involved in Harassment Lawsuit Against Washington Food Cooperative?

[Scurrilous]

The first US grocery store to publicly honor the boycott of Israeli products is the subject of a lawsuit.

http://www.alternet.org/news/154256/is_israel%27s_government_involved_in_harassment_lawsuit_against_washington_food_cooperative_

Editors note: In late 2010, the board of the Olympia Food Co-Op voted to stop carrying Israeli goods in solidarity with the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), setting off a political firestorm with international implications. Whatever one may think about the value of BDS, as the Center for Constitutional Rights notes, “The Supreme Court has held that peaceful political boycotts are protected under the First Amendment.” Now, a group of co-op members who failed to win election to the board have launched a lawsuit attempting to force the co-op to stock its shelves with Israeli goods. They claim the suit is not about politics, but simply a matter of process. As Phan Nguyen details below, there's ample evidence contradicting that claim, including the apparent involvement in the litigation of Stand With Us, one of the most militant groups supporting Israeli government policy. Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of the progressive pro-Israel group, J-Street, accused Stand With Us of using “thuggish smear tactics” to silence dissenting views, and an investigation by IPS News found that the group is backed by “a web of funders who support organizations that have been accused of anti-Muslim propaganda and encouraging a militant Israeli and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.”

<snip>

"The first court hearing in the lawsuit against the Olympia Food Co-op will commence on Thursday, February 24. The lawsuit seeks to force the Olympia Food Co-op, the first US grocery store to publicly honor the boycott of Israeli products, to nullify the boycott and once again stock gluten-free ice cream cones specifically sourced from Israel.

Supporters of the boycott and of the Olympia Food Co-op released a video calling for support and have asked supporters to sign a statement of solidarity.

The lawsuit against the co-op can be classified as a SLAPP (a strategic lawsuit against public participation) whose sole purpose is to deter political expression. The defendants, who are current and former co-op board members, have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit under Washington State’s anti-SLAPP law. In order to conceal the censoring nature of the lawsuit, however, the five plaintiffs claim the lawsuit is not politically motivated and is not about Israel. Instead, they contend that as co-op members, they are simply opposed to the process in which the boycott was instituted and would have no problem if a boycott of Israel was insituted under an alternate method."

[jberryhill]

1. If the lawsuit is about governance of the co-op...

...then without the by-laws and the facts, there's just no way to assess this story.

[regnaD kciN]

3. In the words of Noah...

..."Riiiiiiiiiiiight."

[jberryhill]

4. I'm sorry, I don't understand your reply

[Purveyor]

2. They may be using the US Antiboycott Laws under the Export Administration Act.

as basis for the suit.

http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/antiboycottcompliance.htm

[King_David]

5. Good for the Israeli government,If they are involved.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. Interesting position. So you're in favor of foreign governments strong arming domestic businesses

into carrying certain products on their shelves? Do you believe in this as a universally applicable principle, or just for Israel?

I wonder what the U.S., or maybe some other countries, might want to strong arm Israeli shops into carrying on their shelves.

[Scurrilous]

6. Judge tosses lawsuit to overturn Olympia co-op's boycott of Israeli goods

<snip>

"A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn the Olympia Food Co-op's boycott of Israeli goods, ruling that the lawsuit was an illegal "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation," or SLAPP. Bruce Johnson of Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle, an attorney for the defendants in the lawsuit, said following the judge's ruling that SLAPP lawsuits are illegal under an enhanced anti-SLAPP statute he and another staff attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine helped draft.

"SLAPPs are usually designed to throttle free speech and force the speakers to spend unnecessary litigation costs," Johnson said.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee ruled Monday that the plaintiffs who sought to overturn the co-op's boycott of Israeli goods failed to show that the co-op's board acted outside its authority when it enacted the boycott in July, 2010.

Nine of the co-op's 10 board members voted to remove Israeli products from store shelves.

McPhee also ruled that the issue of whether consensus was necessary among co-op staff in enacting the boycott was not material to the case, as had been argued by the plaintiffs who brought the suit seeking to nullify the boycott. McPhee ruled that the co-op's board never exempted itself as the final authority with respect to the right to enact a boycott.

McPhee also addressed the plaintiffs' contention in its lawsuit that the boycott was not "nationally recognized," as is required under the co-op's boycott policy.

McPhee said the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement or BDS, which supported the boycott, "is a national movement."

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2012/02/27/2007774/judge-tosses-lawsuit-that-sought.html#storylink=cpy