Ban Israeli Wine BC, a grassroots coalition of community groups in solidarity with Palestine, has launched a Week of Action coinciding with Israeli Apartheid Week to demand that the provincial government immediately ban the sale of Israeli wine in BC liquor stores.
"While the Israeli military has resumed indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza and intensified brutality and repression in the West Bank after 16 months of active genocide, our elected officials have an urgent duty to act," a release from the coalition says.
For years, the Canada Palestine Association, BDS Vancouver, and supporters have been calling on the B.C. government to ban Israeli wines in order to put pressure on Israel to abide by international law. Community groups and concerned citizens have renewed the call to ban Israeli wine in response to Israel鈥檚 genocide in Gaza.
"The B.C. government has consistently refused, citing a lack of federal direction to impose sanctions," the release says.
According to the group, the provincial government immediately removed and halted imports of Russian alcohol when Russia invaded Ukraine in Feb 2022, three months before federal sanctions on Russian alcohol came into effect. Similarly, in response to the escalating trade dispute between the United States and Canada, the provincial government directed the BC Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) on March 3 2025 to remove liquor products from Republican states from shelves.
"When Russia invaded Ukraine, BC acted swiftly 鈥� pulling Russian alcohol from shelves months before federal sanctions," said Tamer Aburamadan, a Ban Israeli Wine BC organizer. "When trade disputes flared with the U.S., the province immediately yanked products from Republican states. But when it comes to Israel鈥檚 genocide in Gaza? Silence. This double standard isn鈥檛 just hypocrisy 鈥� it鈥檚 anti-Palestinian racism. The NDP has full power to sanction Israeli wine today. If they can stand up to Russia and the US, why not Israel? The moral choice is clear: Ban Israeli imports now."
During this Week of Action to Ban Israeli Wine in B.C., community groups will be protesting and picketing outside multiple BCLIQUOR store locations, participating in a province-wide Phone Zap targeting key decision makers, and calling on our local MLAs to speak up in support on Palestinian rights by backing the campaign to Ban Israeli Wine.
