Karama UK is the London-based UK branch of Karama (‘Dignity’ in Arabic), a Palestinian NGO founded in 2002 not affiliated with any political party or movement. Based inside Bethlehem’s Deheishe refugee camp, Karama offers children, young people and women social activities, companionship, support, opportunities and services that are so desperately needed.

The founding of the Zionist apartheid state in 1948 was followed the expulsion of around 750,000 Palestinians. Deheishe, just approximately 1 square kilometre, was one of the first refugee camps created as a temporary humanitarian solution to the problem of accommodating those expelled Palestinians. 

Deheishe refugee camp: Nowhere to go

Ever since Israel’s illegal occupation, Deheishe’s 15,000 inhabitants have been surrounded by violence, devastation, poverty, hatred and marginalisation. Inside, people live in extremely overcrowded conditions where there is insufficient water and electricity as well as an overburdened waste disposal and sewage system. The camp’s medical facilities and school system are also poorly equipped and not fit for purpose.

For children, Deheishe’s streets offer no spaces for fun, enjoyment or learning, as parks, gardens, playgrounds and libraries are unheard of.

Karama’s centre in Deheishe

Because of the occupation, it is often not possible for young people from Deheishe to see the world through other perspectives other than their own. Although they are physically trapped in the West Bank and live under occupation behind the wall, they at least can hear about and experience other cultures, as Karama’s international volunteers often prepare lectures about the traditions, customs and food of their respective country.

Karama UK

Founded in November 2011, the mission of Karama UK is to increase awareness of and raise funds to support Karama’s work in Deheishe.

In January 2012, we held our first London event; a fundraising dinner at Notting Hill’s popular Palestinian café, Maramia where £400.00 was raised to support the work of Karama Palestine.

Our “Books for Karama” campaign, launched in February, is seeking donations of Arabic-language books to implement a library in Deheishe. After hearing our presentation about our work, students from North London’s Ayesha Community School held a book drive and also started fundraising to support us.

Currently, we are raising funds for Karama’s health centre project and hope to raise part of the £120,000 required by holding a cake sale and a photo exhibition – providing we find suitable venues.

Volunteers are essential to the work of Karama and it’s thanks to them that we can continue to carry out our important work to give thousands of Palestinian children, teenagers and women a life full of hope.

If you would like to volunteer or help in any capacity, please email alhaj@karama.org.

For further information about Karama, visit www.karama.org.

Soap & Co in Westfield (Stratford City).

If you visit a shopping centre, chances are that you’ll eventually come across a kiosk selling Dead Sea beauty products. These kiosks have attracted a lot of attention, not just for the origin of their natural resources, but also for their shady practices and coercive sales techniques that would make a snake oil salesman blush.  

Stop for just a few seconds to check the label and you’ll be approached by a young Israeli of the opposite sex, dressed in black and pawing at your hands to entice you to purchase an overpriced container of lotion. If you think they’re just being friendly, think again. Most of them work from scripts like this and this.

Kiosks stocking Dead Sea beauty products can be found in many malls run by Israeli companies who employ almost exclusively Israelis.

These kiosks are legitimate targets, as every sale supports companies who in turn support the apparatus of oppression in the racist apartheid state. Dead Sea Premier kiosks were targeted in April and July 2011 at malls in Auckland, New Zealand and in June and November, Seacret kiosks in Brisbane and Perth Australia were also targeted.

The video below is an example of the sales tactics these companies use. Clearly this Israeli saleswoman won’t take no for an answer:

There’s uncertainty not just about the origin of any natural resources, but also about the immigration status of many kiosk workers. In December 2009, eight Israelis were arrested by the UK Border Agency in a Bristol mall and later deported. Arrests and deportations have also taken place in America, Canada and even New Zealand – where Israelis claimed to police that they weren’t being paid, but were volunteer goodwill ambassadors for the apartheid state!

In 2008, The Wall Street Journal published an insightful article entitled: Shalom, Christmas Shoppers: Israelis Sell Cosmetics, Toys at the Mall.

Unfortunately, since that exposé was published, the ‘cancer’ has spread.

A LEAKED US EMBASSY CABLE FROM TEL AVIV

The problem of Israelis working illegally at kiosks throughout America has become so serious that in January 2010, the former US Ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham sent a report to his bosses in Washington, DC entitled Dead Sea Cosmetics and Skincare Industry Fraud.

This diplomatic cable, posted on WikiLeaks, shed light on the activities of Israelis selling Dead Sea beauty products at kiosks throughout America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. It details widespread immigration fraud, worker exploitation, tax evasion, money laundering and the involvement of organised crime on a massive-scale. The original document is in a run-on format, so here’s an easy-to-read version.

The US embassy in Tel Aviv even went so far as to produce a video (below) warning Israelis of the risks of working illegally in America that is also endlessly played in the embassy’s waiting room, but it seems to have little effect, as many feel that stronger deterrents are needed.

The 2010 cable reveals that some Dead Sea cosmetic and skin care products that are labelled “Made in Israel” may actually originate elsewhere such as China, which has both ‘dead seas’ and cheap labour. One company allegedly manufactures soaps in the USA who employ illegal workers from Central America and then label the product as originating from the Dead Sea. Yet another reportedly imports soaps and lotions in bulk into Israel, where they are packaged before being exported and sold in America, taking advantage of Israel’s most favoured trading nation status to qualify for a reduced tariff on imported goods. 

Interestingly, the cable also reveals that most companies hire only those who have completed military service in the Israel Occupation Force - which of course excludes the overwhelming majority of Palestinians.

WESTFIELD

Westfield: Too many kiosks

A company called Gadi has kiosks at the West One Shopping Centre off Oxford Street, at Victoria Place near Victoria Station and at other locations in Central London while Southside Wandsworth centre has seen a Dead Sea Premier kiosk mysteriously come and go in only a few weeks and not surprisingly, at the Brent Cross Shopping Centre in North London, there’s a SeaSpa kiosk.

However, the lion’s share of kiosks can be found inside malls owned by the Westfield Group who manage over a hundred malls throughout America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

At the Westfield malls at Shepherd’s Bush and Stratford, very close to the London 2012 Olympic Stadium, one can find Onsen and Soap & Co, who both use an Israeli sales force to flog their products.

When we raised the possibility that some of their tenants employ illegal workers, staff at Westfield Stratford didn’t seem too bothered, as the Australian-based group was co-founded by Zionist Frank Lowy,  a close confidant of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Westfield co-founder Frank Lowy: Veteran of the Haganah and Golani Brigade.

After arriving in Palestine from Hungry in 1946, Lowy served as a commando in the Haganah, precursor of the Israeli Occupation Force and later the notorious Golani Brigade who were very active during the Nakba, terrorising and murdering Palestinians in large numbers. In 1952, Lowy emigrated to Australia where he made his fortune building shopping centres. Now retired, Lowy reportedly spends much of his time in Israel.

A VISIT TO ONSEN

Here’s one person’s experience when stopping at Onsen’s kiosk in Westfield Stratford:

I was approached by a very friendly sales assistant named “Yoni” who told me that their products used technology and minerals that were more advanced than any other product.

Me being very cautious and aware of marketing tactics, I wasn’t at all convinced but he was extremely persistent. He wouldn’t allow me to leave until he’d show me the face peel, so he poured some of it on to my hand. It was a clear gel substance and he rubbed it around my hand and eventually it formed white and grey particles.

He told me that it was dirt and that a clean hand wouldn’t have that dirt and said if it could do that for my hand; imagine what it could do for an oily face.

However, I was aware that all the gel needed was body heat to form those particles and it was false advertising, but I just played along.

He then showed me the hydration cleanser and milk lotion cleanser and told me a bunch of facts behind the “natural” product. He then took me to the computer screen and showed me that on the Onsen website, the face peel product was US$129.95 online, but if I bought the product at the kiosk today, it would only be £60.00 or £120.00 for both products.

I thought this was an extreme rip-off for a product I had never heard of.

“Yoni” then told me: “I wouldn’t do this for everyone but I can see that you’re interested and I’m willing to offer you my personal employee discount for £30.00 a product or £60.00 for two.” (Inside I was laughing at the fact my acting skills worked). But I told him I still wasn’t interested.

At this point, I was approached by one of Yoni’s friends who tried to sell me something else. He applied some cream under my left eye and immediately he tried to convince me that he could see my skin tightening up and my eyes were less puffy and dark.

This was a complete lie because obviously the skin under my eye was still as dark as ever.

A popular consumer website, Complaints Board details a plethora of complaints against Onsen and other companies at Westfield and at other malls throughout America, suggesting that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

SOAP & CO

Companies such as Soap & Co often recruit using their own sites and Hebrew-language online noticeboards, as well as through informal social networks shortly before they complete their military service. Most Israelis who want to work overseas know its pretty easy to find a job “on the carts.”   

Here’s a Soap & Co recruitment video that promises “real money” in addition to the excitement of working in London:

272 Regents Park Road N3: The registered business address of Soap & Co. The rubbish skips outside are highly appropriate.

We visited Soap & Co’s registered address at 272 Regent’s Park Road N3 3HN in the north London Borough of Barnet ready to pose questions about their hiring of illegal workers and high pressure sales tactics.

As it turned out, the address was not that of Soap & Co, but of the auditing firm of Spencer Hyde Ltd who confirmed that they are Soap & Co’s accountants, but were not willing to divulge any further information concerning their connection with this elusive company.

So there you have it.    

It’s time the Home Office, UK Border Agency and HM Revenue & Customs take appropriate action to terminate this ‘industry’ which has an unsavoury record and proven history of flouting consumer protection, employment, immigration and tax legislation - as well as international law.

Their free ride will soon be over.

Fishing for customers at 'Gadi' in the West One Centre, off Oxford Street (Bond Street tube).

Another Gadi kiosk, but this time at Victoria Place, the mall above Victoria Station. Three other black-clad scam artists were out of camera shot.

Here's the Onsen kiosk in Westfield London (Shepherd's Bush).

And the Onsen kiosk in Westfield (Stratford City).

The Soap & Co kiosk in Westfield London (Shepherd's Bush).

SeaSpa kiosk in the Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

Report by Carl B.

Friday 30 March 2012

Hundreds of people – many wearing keffiyehs – assembled on Kensington High Street, very near to the Embassy of Israel and demanded freedom for Palestine as well as an end to Israeli policies of ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Jerusalem – policies sustained by the complicity of companies such as Veolia.

Demonstrators held placards reading ‘END THE ETHNIC CLEANSING IN JERUSALEM,’ ‘FREEDOM FOR PALESTINE’ and ‘END ISRAELI APARTHEID’ and chanted “In our thousands in our millions, we are all Palestinians,” “The-world-demands-a-free-Palestine” and “Long Live Palestine.”

This London demonstration, organised by UK solidarity organisations, was part of the Global March to Jerusalem, an international initiative with protests and demonstrations taking place globally that coincided with Land Day, an international day of action in solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Manuel Hassassian, called for an “open Jerusalem” and a Jerusalem not monopolised by one religion over another nor one nationality against another.

In a powerful address, Jeremy Corbyn MP told demonstrators that every Palestinian on Earth is under occupation, under siege or in exile and that no Palestinian is allowed to live free in Palestine. Corbyn also called for an end to the EU-Israel Economic Agreement as long as Israel continues to blatantly flout international law.

Sarah Colborne of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said that the presence of so many people assembled sent a very clear message to the British Government, the Embassy of Israel and people throughout the UK that ethnic cleansing taking place in Jerusalem will not go unchallenged. Another speaker, Lindsay German of Stop the War encouraged people to protest and demonstrate until Palestine is free.

Meanwhile, surrounded by even more police on the other side of the street, there were fewer than ten Zionist counter-demonstrators, some holding Israeli flags, who stood in a pen adorned with English and Union Jack banners that were – by fault or design – visually reminiscent of far-right hate groups such as the EDL and BNP.

All wrapped up in patriotism?

Is this Kensington High Street or Monmouth Street? Named and shamed (in a non-photoshopped 2010 image) are Jonathan Hoffman (on the left) and Stephen Franklin (facing camera) of the Zionist Federation alongside their Islamophobic EDL "Jewish Division" allies outside Ahava amid a display of English and Union Jack flags. Many would agree that both these national symbols were hijacked by the UK's racist ultra-right groups including the National Front, BNP, EDL and now - the Zionist Federation.

Friday's large Zionist turnout. Note the Union Jack displayed on the right. Samuel Johnson once said that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." How true.

Solidarity with Palestinian political prisoner Hana Shalabi

Report by Bruce/Photos by Nancy K.

On Friday evening, 23 March, a vigil was held at Trafalgar Square to express solidarity with 30-year-old Palestinian political prisoner Hana Shalabi who has been on hunger strike since February 16th and is now at “immediate risk of death” after 40 days without food.

Hana, from Burqin near Jenin, spent 25 months in so-called Administrative Detention without being charged or tried and was released in October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal for Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldier Gilad Shalit.

Four months later on February 16th, Hana (whose brother Samir was murdered by the IOF) was arrested again by the Israeli military and has been on hunger strike since.

Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner support NGO, reported that Hana was physically abused, threatened, held in solitary confinement, as well as sexually and emotionally humiliated.

Hana’s horrific experiences at the hands of the IOF are shared by the overwhelming majority of Israel’s political prisoners who are routinely arrested and held under ‘Administrative Detention’ by “The Most Moral Army in the World“ imprisoning detainees indefinitely in brutal conditions without charge or trial.

Outside the National Gallery overlooking Trafalgar Square, over 20 people assembled, some holding large pictures of Hana and others candles. Even though there were no speeches or chants, the vigil drew a great deal of attention and support from curious members of the public. Those present not just expressed concern over Hana’s brutal treatment, but also a desire to show their solidarity with all Palestinian political prisoners.

One banner read: ‘LONDON ♥ HANA SHALABI’ and members of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) also attended and displayed their banner.

“She’s a very brave and amazing lady” said one tourist - which was a sentiment shared by many that evening.

The vigil attracted the attention of the international media.

A member of the public reads the flyer (below) that was distributed.

Veolia’s whitewashing exhibition ends at London’s Natural History Museum 

By Carl B. 

This past Saturday was the last picket outside London’s Natural History Museum (NHM), as its Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, sponsored by French multinational Veolia, ended the next day.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is an international wildlife photography contest owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife magazine. Their choice of Royal Dutch Shell as a bedfellow in 2006 drew widespread condemnation and in 2008 direct actions taken by environmental groups effectively led to Shell being dropped as sponsor of the exhibition. You can read more about one of the direct actions here.

In 2009, it was announced that French multinational Veolia would be the new sponsor of the exhibition; a decision that outraged many.

Veolia as you recall, constructed and currently manages the Jerusalem Light Rail system that helps link and consolidate illegal settlements in and around Jerusalem, transports rubbish from settlements in the occupied West Bank to the Tovlan landfill (that it sold to a settlement) and operates bus services linking settlements to Israel via an apartheid road run by one of its many subsidiaries, Connex – which also used to hold a UK rail franchise.

Zionists in the UK love to crow about the widespread support Israel enjoys from the Christian community. I wonder if any of them read Sr Maria Bird’s letter in the 23 September 2011 edition of the Independent Catholic News:

I was shocked to see that Veolia, a company that is collaborating with illegal settlements in Israel Palestine, is once again the title sponsor of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition at the Natural History Museum. I would hope that all Christians in London would show their disapproval by writing and demonstrating.

The Natural History Museum should not be proud to have retained Veolia as its sponsor after last year’s protests. The Director’s excuse is that provided its sponsor has a good environmental track record, what else it gets up to is no concern of the Museum. The Natural History Museum can expect more demonstrations outside the Museum…

And there were.

The fortnightly pickets were just one side of this public awareness campaign. Other tactics included outing Veolia on the NHM’s Facebook page, a Twitter campaign, as well as phone calls, emails and using the NHM’s own fundraising mascot, ‘Dippy the Dinosaur’ to encourage visitors not to donate. Highly inspiring too, were seeing subvertised billboards advertising the exhibition at dozens of underground stations throughout London.

And then news broke that the NHM also partnered with illegal settlement Dead Sea cosmetic company Ahava in an EU funded project. This revelation earned the NHM widespread negative publicity and condemnation from not just human rights groups, but also from leading figures in the scientific, academic and cultural communities.

The NHM’s response to its partnership with Ahava, just like Veolia, has been beyond contempt. Representatives from the NHM arrogantly refused to meet with campaigners or discuss how it arrived at its decision to engage with companies so blatenly complicit in violations of international law and war crimes.

The excuse given by “Professor” Ian Owens, the museum’s director of science to The Independent newspaper regarding Ahava was:

We work within the legal and policy boundaries established by politicians and policy makers, and would not participate in any academic or educational boycotts that could restrict academic freedom.

So what has been achieved during these past few months?

In addition to bringing campaigners from many backgrounds together, countless visitors from both the UK and abroad are now aware of Veolia’s corporate complicity in supporting Israeli apartheid and war crimes. The NHM – itself not an innocent party – is under no illusions what will occur should Veolia once again be chosen as sponsor, in a campaign that activists promise will be “more proactive and robust” than in the past.

What’s more, this has opened up the debate to whether a cultural institution that receives public funding should be answerable to the taxpayer, as the NHM is heavily subsidised by the Dept for Culture, Media and Sport and yet is accountable only to itself.

However, the last word goes to someone who wrote an account of their experiences a fortnight ago that more or less sums up how many people feel:

A sizable number of us gathered outside the Natural History Museum to inform visitors about Veolia’s complicity in human rights violations and about how it profits from the misery of the Palestinian people. It was a fine day and as always, the majority of them were open to receiving our information and many spoke to us to find out why we were here.

Some campaigners distributed flyers to people in the queue waiting to get into the museum, while others handed out information to passers-by. Yet more of us simply stood with Palestinian flags or pictures showing the indignities that Palestinians in the West Bank have to go through daily in order to get on with their daily lives, while others showed maps of the changing face of disappearing Palestine over the decades.

Memorable highlights included a young Greek man who came up to us and asked for literature saying: “We’re with you.” I responded that we we’re with the people of Greece too.

Soon after this a young woman spoke to me saying, “Thank you for this, I’m Palestinian…”

But for me, the best came at the very end when two women took a flyer and started speaking to me. I knew they weren’t English and so asked them where they were from. One said, “We’re from Israel.”She replied that they were sick of the politics and supported the Palestinians. My immediate reaction was to fling my arms around her saying, “We love you!” as it’s such a pity that most of the world doesn’t realise how many Israelis feel the same way as her.

I, like everyone else, left knowing that what we had done was worthwhile.

Report by Carl B

Trades Exhibitions Ltd, organiser of the Professional Beauty 2012 show held on 4-5 March at London’s ExCeL centre, refused to provide an official statement why they permitted cosmetics company Ahava to sell their toxic and illegal products at one of the UK’s largest events for professionals in the health & beauty sector. Mark Maloney, owner of the company that organises the show was unavailable and failed to reply to emails and return phone calls.

Despite their official silence, the organisers admitted knowing all about the purveyor of illegal settlement Dead Sea cosmetics. “We know why you’re here” one employee told activists who enquired during a visit to the organiser’s office. In an attempt to whitewash their greed as much as their ignorance, the same person stated: “At the end of the day, we’re just a business.”

Distributing flyers. And there were lots of takers!

Earlier, campaigners distributed several hundred flyers, further damaging Ahava’s already highly stigmatised image in the sector whose business the illegal Dead Sea cosmetics company is most keen to attract. More than one visitor said that they would not purchase any Ahava product and many also added they would urge their colleagues and friends to boycott the brand as well.

In January 2011, major UK department store chain John Lewis announced that it had joined a growing list of retailers who no longer carry Ahava and in September 2011, Ahava’s only UK outlet, near London’s Covent Garden, was forced to close as a result of a sustained campaign by human rights activists. Recently in Japan, The main distributor of Ahava products said that they would discontinue carrying the toxic brand.

In the UK, Ahava evades paying full duty on its exports by labelling its cosmetics as products of Israel, when in fact they are stolen from, processed and packaged in the occupied West Bank – recognised by the international community as illegally occupied territory. Ahava has also been accused of violating the UK Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations for false labelling.

Ahava - Docteur Renaud t-shirt worn by sales reps.

At Professional Beauty, Ahava was certainly keeping a low profile compared to earlier events – as one could easily walk by its stand without noticing it. Noticeable too was that they shared both space and staff with Docteur Renaud, a French cosmetics brand. Looking through their promotional literature revealed the two companies share the same UK business address, that suggests Ahava may very well be using another company to cross-sell their products.

Also noticeable and seen before, were several handwritten price lists hastily taped to bins containing small plastic containers of Ahava lotions – placed as if the company wanted to unload as much of their dodgy, toxic and illegal products as possible.

In a candid statement during a brief conversation, an Ahava representative openly admitted that they were told by company officials that the product is not illegal, presumably to pacify potential customers.

The low profile Ahava stand. Note the bins with the handwritten price lists in the corner.

Despite the show heaving with exhibitors selling direct to the health and beauty trade, Ahava was one of the few companies flogging their illegal goods to whoever would buy them, with no minimum purchase.

The next Professional Beauty event will be held in Manchester 14-15 October 2012.

London prepares for Flytilla II

By London BDS

Imagine if London was controlled by the military and you had to go through specific checkpoints to go to school, go to work, visit your friends or go to the hospital.

This award-winning seven minute video, from an April 2011 post, brings the shocking reality of Palestinian life in the West Bank uncomfortably close to home.

Welcome to Israel!

Israeli checkpoint set up in Central London

The following press release and photos were issued by the Israeli Occupation Force’s Spokesperson in London:

ישראל כוחות הכיבוש

London, UK.

2 Adar I 5772 / Saturday 25 February 2012

In an attempt to support UK police and security agencies in their fight against terrorism, soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Force set up a checkpoint complete with watchtower outside one of the London’s busiest districts, Covent  Garden. Metropolitan Police granted IOF soldiers responsibility to maintain public order, guard the checkpoint and keep Covent Garden terrorist-free.

The area was chosen because it has been described as a hub of anti-Israel activity where terrorists forced the nearby Ahava shop to close in 2011.

IOF Soldiers, brandishing heavy weapons and armed to the teeth, greeted the hundreds of people who passed through the checkpoint with shouts of “Shalom – Welcome to Israel!”

Residents and tourists were ordered to have their ID cards and passports ready for inspection and a number of suspicious persons were detained, including all people of Arab appearance. One female Arab was held for several hours, despite her plea that she was late for her hospital appointment and a heavily pregnant young woman was also detained. Several suspicious young teenagers, as well as a few internationalists who said they were tourists were interrogated and searched before being released.

Most pedestrians who passed through the checkpoint were cooperative, expressed thanks and gave the thumbs up. A member of the pubic was overheard to say: “I thought we were in Britain, not Israel.”

Representatives of the IOF Spokesperson distributed information to those allowed to enter and leave the checkpoint explaining its purpose, while others explained to the curious how this is all a normal part of life in Al-Khalil (Hebron) and in many towns and villages throughout the Israeli Occupied Territories.

At the end of the day, the checkpoint was disassembled and returned to the Embassy of Israel in London.

ENDS.

Saturday, 25 February 2012

Today’s protest in London called for the reopening of Shuhada Street in Al-Khalil (Hebron) held to the day on the 18th anniversary of the Baruch Goldstein massacre during which a Jewish extremist murdered 29 Palestinian worshippers and injured 125 more during morning prayers at Hebron’s al-Ibrahimi mosque.

Hebron has been under Israeli occupation since 1969, when the first religious settlers, who had barricaded themselves in a downtown hotel room and refused to leave, were coaxed out by the Israeli military and given the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba. Ten years later, the act was repeated in an abandoned hospital, and this time Israel allowed the squatters to settle in downtown Hebron.

Restrictions on Palestinian life in Hebron accelerated after the Baruch Goldstein massacre. The expulsion of Palestinians and their livelihoods from the heart of Hebron’s Old City became an institutionalised process after the area became Israeli-controlled H2 in 1997.  Now, at least 500 settlers and at least 2,000 soldiers have shut down Shuhada Street, the economic heart of both Hebron and the entire southern West Bank.

The gradual takeover of Shuhada Street, beginning in the 1980′s and culminating after the second Intifada has turned the once-bustling marketplace into a ghost town and has caused the (often forced) abandonment of over 1,000 housing units and over 1,800 shops and storefronts — which now, in a cruel and ironic twist of history, are graffitied with the same Stars of David that once marred Jewish storefronts in 1930′s Germany.

Additional images of Checkpoint Covent Garden can be found here.

Illegal settlement cosmetics company Ahava exhibits at Professional Beauty 2012

Report by London BDS

In September 2011, thanks to the work of human rights activists, along with a team of solicitors and barristers, Ahava closed its only shop in the UK as a result of a two-year campaign of fortnightly demonstrations, direct actions and legal challenges - though many would agree that the antics of the Zionist Federation’s Jonathan Hoffman also proved invaluable.

Not wanting to open another shop that would attract unwanted attention and generate further bad publicity for both themselves and their landlord, Ahava is seeking other ways to sell their dodgy lotions & potions. Nancy Kricorian, CodePink’s coordinator for its Stolen Beauty campaign, compared it to a game of whack-a-mole, as new places where Ahava is sold pop-up frequently.

For instance, we reported last November of a visit to the World Travel Market at London’s ExCeL centre where Ahava had a stand in the high-security Israel pavilion and in January 2012, the company began to peddle their wares direct to spa and salon owners up and down the country under the guise of a roadshow.

Professional Beauty, a beauty industry trade magazine, organises exhibitions throughout the UK targeted at salon owners and those who work in the beauty sector. According to the organisers, the two-day event at ExCeL last year drew over 33,000 visitors. Without a doubt and anyway you look at it,  Professional Beauty is one of the largest shows of its kind in Europe.

In October 2011, a coalition of human rights activists attended the Professional Beauty North show at Manchester Central where they staged a high-profile demonstration inside the venue, very near to the Ahava stand. Many more activists were outside, leafleting and engaging with the hundreds of visitors who attended that day.

London’s ExCeL centre.

Again exhibiting at Professional Beauty on the 4th and 5th of March at ExCeL is Ahava UK Ltd, who will again attempt to use the show as a platform to promote and sell their plundered potions to whoever they can. Ahava (at Stand H16) are still desperate to unload stock from their closed Monmouth Street shop and are even offering the gullable a 20% discount on their products. 

Organiser Mark Maloney: Ahava is a "law-abiding business."

The company that organises the Professional Beauty show have repeatedly ignored appeals to bar Ahava. In an interview in Exhibition News, Trade Exhibitions Managing Director Mark Maloney naively referred to Ahava as a “law-abiding business.”

Perhaps factually challenged or perhaps blinded by the substantial fee paid by every exhibitor to his company, Moloney may not realise that Ahava, a company found to be complicit in Israeli war crimes, violates the 4^th Geneva Convention (of which the UK is a signatory), as well as the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations. Maloney may be ignorant of the fact that Ahava cheats the UK government out of much-needed revenue by claiming – contrary to international consensus - that its products originate in Israel, thus eligible for a reduced tariff under the EU-Israel Trade Agreement. Also under doubt is whether Maloney knows anything about life under Israeli military occupation or has ever visited the region.

As covered in a February 2011 post, London activists were present both inside and outside of last year’s Professional Beauty exhibition at ExCeL, engaging with and distributing flyers to both visitors and exhibitors, exposing the notorious illegal settlement cosmetics company.

At ExCel in February 2011.

We hope that Trade Exhibitions Ltd and especially its owner, Mark Maloney will see sense and bar Ahava from exhibiting at any future Professional Beauty event.

After all, supporting apartheid can be bad for business.

*****

KNOW YOUR ENEMY: AHAVA

Pat Strutt, Ahava UK's Managing Director.

Here’s an interview with the Managing Director of Ahava UK Ltd, Pat Strutt, posted on the Professional Beauty site on 12 September 2011 – about a week before the Ahava shop on Monmouth Street closed for good. The page also includes a link to Ahava’s training programme.

If you’re going to be in London on the 4th & 5th of March (Sunday and Monday), you can register to attend Professional Beauty 2012 for free here.

On Facebook, you can leave a message on the Professional Beauty Facebook page or tweet: @pro_beauty

And contact details for Trade Exhibitions Ltd:

In August 2011, CodePink activists were at the COSMOPROF beauty exhibition in Las Vegas where Ahava was exhibiting. This video is definitely worth watching:

Visit www.stolenbeauty.org to find out why Ahava is such a dirty business.