Food

August 26, 2011

Whole Foods denies rumor of boycott of Israeli products [UPDATE]

By Ryan Torok

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This story was originally posted on Aug. 25. Update is below.

For about a week, a rumor that the Whole Foods Market chain is boycotting Israeli products has been circulating in emails and on the blogosphere.  On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for Whole Foods said that the rumor is completely false.

It’s “definitely not true,” company spokesperson Libba Letton said in a phone interview. “We have products from Israel; we have tons of kosher products.”
The company’s customer service team has received “at least a couple hundred” phone calls from people – many of them Jewish – asking whether the rumor is true, Letton said.

“For every person that calls us, there are nine more who don’t and just believe what they read, and it’s been frustrating,” she said.

Letton said she believes the rumor started with a blogpost by conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel late last month. On July 29, Schlussel wrote on her blog, DebbieSchlussel.com, that she had “received many reports from Whole Foods customers that Israeli olive oil and other products had been removed from the shelves of many Whole Foods.”

Letton firmly disputed Schlussel’s claim. “Some national brands you’ll find in our stores include Aviv, Yehuda, and Avvio,” she wrote The Journal in an email. “We also carry thousands of kosher items, as well as hundreds of kosher-for-Passover products.” Schlussel could not be reached for comment.

[UPDATE AUG. 26, 6:10 pm]

Despite Whole Foods’ statements that the company is not boycotting Israeli products, Schlussel affirms that her claim is “100 percent true.”

“They are lying about saying they’re not boycotting Israel,” she said.

Based on feedback from readers of her blog and her own observations of Whole Foods stores in the Detroit area, where she is based, Schlussel believes the grocery chain is engaging in a strategic campaign to gradually remove the most popular Israeli products, including Israeli olive oil, from store shelves.

“It’s not just a political statement. It’s pandering to a group of people who they think will be their future customers, which is Muslims,” Schlussel said. “And they know that the type of Jews who shop at Whole Foods are liberal and have no principals. They don’t care about Israel … I’m probably one of the few Jews who stopped shopping there.”

Letton dismissed Schlussel’s claim.

“I would say that is completely unfounded, and completely ridiculous,” she said. “The bottom line is that we don’t discriminate on country of origin.”

Letton said stores will pull a product from shelves if it isn’t selling. “I’m speculating that may be the reason, if she witnessed a trend like that,” she said.

The boycott controversy started after Schlussel, in a blog post dated July 29, 2011, attacked Whole Foods for holding a Ramadan marketing campaign. In the post, Schlussel said that Whole Foods has decided to carry Palestinian olive oil instead of Israeli olive oil, which led to the rumors that Whole Foods is boycotting Israeli products.

This isn’t the first dispute between Whole Foods and Schlussel. In April 2009, Schlussel blogged that Canaan Fair Trade olive oil, a Palestinian olive oil that is made in the West Bank and carried at Whole Foods stores, support terrorist causes. Letton denied this claim as well.

Today, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement in support of Whole Foods, adding that the company said some of its buyers were on a trip to Israel when the rumor about its supposed anti-Israel stance began circulating online.

“Whole Foods Market has made it unequivocally clear that it has not and will not engage in boycotts against the state of Israel,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said in the statement. “In fact, they continue to carry a number of Israeli products, and have assured us that they do so with pride.”

A version of this article appeared in print.

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I hadn’t believe WF was boycotting Israel until I read their statement in this article:  the first two companies they mention sell kosher food products (obviously appealing primarily to Jews), the third -avivio - says it uses concord grapes, hardly an Israeli product.  And the pr spokesperson appears to not understand the difference between Kosher and Israeli

Comment by george on 8/25/11 at 10:38 pm

Interesting that WF could not point to a single general appeal food or other product grown/made in Israel.  I’m beginning to think maybe they are boycotting Israel.  So get off your behinds, “J"J, and find out instead of printing press releases.

Comment by george on 8/25/11 at 10:40 pm

Importing food products requires specialized paperwork both for import purposes and for health safety. thus whole foods can easily establish the specifics of their Israeli product imports, if any.  PR people may be unfamiliar with the facts on the ground, but their legal department should have full knowledge& documentation. If whole foods is innocent ,they should easily clear up this accusation. If they are guilty ,they should quickly clean up their act.

Comment by LT COL HOWARD on 8/25/11 at 11:45 pm

George:

“The Yehuda Matzos factory, owned by the orthodox Ludmir family from Zefat, seventh generation in Israel, who is baking matzos since 1921, moved to Jerusalem the Holy City in 1949.” http://www.yehudamatzos.com/apage/72254.php

Comment by anonymous on 8/26/11 at 6:24 am

Thanks anonymous: we know that WF will sell some Kosher foodstuffs made in Israel: but what general appeal (non Kosher) food/other items do they sell that are made inIsrael (olive oil, grapes)?  “J"J, why don’t you do something useful for once and investigate?

Comment by george on 8/26/11 at 6:42 am

George, what is your purpose in continuing to promote the RUMOR about Whole Foods?  Are you a business competitor or just a conspirator theorist?  Get real.  If you want Israeli products, go to Super Sal and stop fighting about Whole Foods. They are basically an American “health foods” retailer and Israel is not exporting many of these products.  For me, they are overpriced and do not carry many “mainstream” USA products. I may shop there in the upcoming supermarket strike to support the workers but I prefer Gelsons.

Comment by Dani El on 8/26/11 at 3:42 pm

DE, my only connection with the food industry is that I like eating.  I actually didn’t even know about the controversy until reading the article - I was struck that the WF pr person seemed to think kosher food is the same as Israeli food.  It does make me wonder - but personally I have no idea, the “J"J on the other hand claims to be a Jewish community paper - why don’t they do something useful and investigate?

Comment by george on 8/26/11 at 3:46 pm

on september 1th we’re throwing an “end party” to israel.

i’m talking seriously now, it’s on the israeli channel 10 you’re invited to tune in.

the jewish people are the first people to throw an “end party” to a country!!!
be part of history and tune in!!!

Comment by israeli from israel on 8/27/11 at 10:18 am

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