Ahava has been a key target for activists in the wake of the call for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against companies and organisations profiting from and complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.

All of the products in Ahava, apart from tweezers made in China, are
manufactured in the Mitzpe Shalem settlement in the West Bank. Mitzpe Shalem was founded in 1970 and was built on stolen Palestinian land. It, like all of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories, is illegal under international law.



Activists have run a highly successful campaign of blockades and protests targeting Ahava, complaining that it supports the illegal settlements and Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine. Ahava’s products are systematically mislabelled as originating in Israel, meaning that they benefit from generous import taxes under the terms of the EuroMed trade agreement. Goods made in settlements are not eligible for this tax break, meaning that Ahava is committing tax fraud.



More significantly, the continued profitability of companies based in
settlements serves to reinforce the infrastructure of occupation and the viability of existing and future settlements.



The activists were encouraged by the findings of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine which took place in London this weekend, detailing corporate complicity in Israel’s illegal behaviour and human rights abuses. Ahava was named as a company that is directly complicit in the occupation of Palestine.