Coop Alleanza: Italian supermarket chain says it has stopped selling Israeli products including Israeli peanuts and tahini sauce

The decision will mean that Coop Alleanza 3.0 will remove Israeli peanuts, tahini sauce, and SodaStream carbonated water makers from its shelves, a statement says. In an additional sign of support for people in Gaza, where Israel is fighting the Hamas terror group in a war sparked by its October 7, 2023, attack, supermarkets have also started selling the pro-Palestinian Gaza Cola fizzy drink, the statement adds.

Coop Alleanza 3.0 is the largest cooperative in the Coop Italia network, comprising almost 350 stores in eight Italian regions from Friuli-Venezia Giulia in the north to Puglia in the south. The chain says it “cannot remain indifferent to the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip and [is] united in calling for the immediate cessation of military operations”.

Coop supermarket chains in Florence and the central regions of Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria are also no longer stocking Israeli products, spokespeople say. However, they Times of Israel reports that they insist that this did not amount to a formal boycott of Israeli products.

It comes after British food retailer the Co-op Group, a separate entity to Italy’s Coop, announced it would cease sourcing products from Israel and 16 other countries where it said there were human rights abuses and violations of international law. Other countries covered by the ban, which will be gradually implemented from this month, include Russia, Syria, Belarus, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan.

The Co-op said the ban would cover ingredients for its own-label products as well as whole items. The Co-op, which is known for its efforts to do business ethically, including selling Fairtrade products and supporting local social projects, had already stopped selling Russian products in March 2022, shortly after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.