In a memo from the desk of Mark Gurvis on February 17, 2012, Mark Gurvis, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, called for a BUYcott Lavan:
Gurvis wrote: “Last Sunday, local Boycott, Divestiture, and Sanctions (BDS) activists targeted a small local business that carries Israeli products. You can see the type of tactics these groups use by watching their YouTube video. Watching the video, you can imagine both the reaction of those working in the shop, and also the impact on other local businesses affected by the disruption. The equation of Israel with the former apartheid state of South Africa is at the core of the BDS strategy and belies the complex reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Are there real issues to solve? Of course. Is Israel an apartheid state? No.
To show community support and communicate a clear message that businesses which carry Israeli products must not be intimidated, the next two Sundays have been set aside for a community BUYcott. Feel free to forward the link to others who may be interested.”
The Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign picketed Lavan: Body Mind and Soap, a luxury skin care store in downtown Vancouver, on November 20, 2011. Lavan sells all ‘natural’ Israeli soaps and beauty products, every product in the store bears a “Made in Israel” tag, and Lavan’s advertising boasts of “secrets from the Dead Sea.”
This was the second demonstration within the last three months against this specific store, and the same groups held similar protests in the past, including one against a ship belonging to the Israeli company Zim which had moored in Vancouver, and a protest against local wine stores that sell Israeli wines.
Israeli Shanni Bar-Oz who owns the store says the alarmingly growing rate of protests by anti-Israel activists has her fearing for her safety. The protesters, she added, do more than just block the entrance to her store – they distribute flyers of anti-Israeli propaganda: "It wreaks havoc on my business reputation. I have to explain to my clients and my investors why I'm under attack.
"On the first day (of the protests) one of my employees called me in tears – there were dozens of people standing outside the store and shouting. They had a doll in the image of Lieberman and one of a vulture. It was horrible."During the last bout of rallies, she recalled, people arrived at the store to target her personally: "They were shouting anti-Semitic slogans like 'Heil Hitler.'
Activists came from the Canada Palestine Association, Samidoun, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, as did the puppets (and their people) from the Puppet Liberation Front. The head of the anti-Israel group in Vancouver is a woman named Charlotte Keats, an American married to a Palestinian. Bar-Oz describes here as: "She's extremely radical in her opinions – she's practically a neo-Nazi."
Mark Gurvis took over as executive director on March 18, 2002 of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the central fundraising and community building organization for the Jewish community of the Greater Vancouver area. He is a native of Long Island, N.Y. but well acquainted with Canada because he is married to Leah Pomerantz, a native of St. Catharine's, Ont.
Mark Gurvis graduated the Hebrew Union College in 1984 with a MA in Jewish Communal Service. He was Associate Executive Director Jewish Federation of Cleveland from 2000 – 2002 and has been active in advocating for Soviet Jewry and encouraging young Jews to visit Israel.
In the 2006 Canadian census 21,465 people in Greater Vancouver identified their ethnic origin as Jewish. These people represent about 1% of the census region's approximately two million respondents. In 2008, the Jewish population of Greater Vancouver was estimated as 25,000. The interfaith marriage rate for Vancouver Jews in 2001 was estimated as about 60%, with 40% of Jewish people formally involved with religious congregations.
The first Jewish businessman in Vancouver was Louis Gold, who opened a general store on the waterfront in 1872 and was elected Councilor in South Vancouver in 1914. Another notable early settler was David Oppenheimer, who moved to Vancouver in 1885 and was the city's second Mayor (1888–91). Another prominent settler was Zebulon Franks, who arrived in 1887 and opened a hardware store by 1896.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver was established in 1987 to develop a wider community across the area. It was born from the merger of the United Jewish Appeal and the Jewish Community Fund and Council.
Further Reading:
Canada: Nearly Two-Thirds of Religiously Categorized Crimes Target Jews
Ira Bleiweiss founded Bridge Houston to fight anti-Jewish and anti-Israel propaganda
Richard Allen fights Jewish organizational support for the boycott of Israel (BDS)
David Southwick fights hatred in Australia
