Sainsbury’s has been criticised as antisemitic after staff at the store in London removed kosher items from the shelves because of a pro-Gaza demonstration outside.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, who were holding a protest against the recent Israeli bombing of Gaza in Holborn, London as well as 26 other locations across the UK, do support a boycott of goods produced in Israel, but nowhere had they mention issues with kosher items more generally.
However, it appears that one or more members of staff at the Holborn Sainsbury’s Local store decided to clear the shelves of all kosher goods, including those made in the UK, as spotted by Twitter user Colin J Appleby:
.@sainsburys Any comment on the empty kosher section at Holborn and the "We support Free Gaza" comment from staff? pic.twitter.com/Sm7F4OLxXa
— Colin J Appleby (@CJ_Appleby) August 16, 2014
Appleby noted that the staff may have removed the goods under the banner of supporting a “free Gaza”, but in a statement Sainsbury’s said that it was a “precautionary measure” to protect items from protesters in case of damage.
The kosher goods were back on the shelves on Sunday, but not before the “fridgegate” scandal broke across social media, with many calling out Sainsbury’s for antisemitism or racism.
.#Fridgegate update. The fridge right now. @sainsburys assure me the staff member has been suitably chastised. pic.twitter.com/0DHmlYr028
— Colin J Appleby (@CJ_Appleby) August 17, 2014
Antisemitism has been slowly on the rise across Europe in recent years, and the recent bombing of Gaza has caused a spike in the number of attacks of Jews and their property and businesses as people continue to conflate the Jewish identity with that of the Israeli state.
