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A successful protest over the weekend by UCT students and members of the South African human rights organization, Open Shuhada Street (OSS), has prompted the popular Cape Town retailer, Wellness Warehouse, to remove all cosmetic products manufactured by Israel's AHAVA Cosmetics.

Zackie Achmat, of OSS, communicated this at a joint protest over the weekend: "The manager of Wellness Warehouse has confirmed to us that their store has discontinued and removed all AHAVA cosmetic products from their shelves. OSS together with our allies have been engaging with Wellness Warehouse for over two years now to respect the Palestinian call for boycott and, after a long campaign, we welcome this decision and thank the public who have been joining us for our regular protests and pickets. "

AHAVA Cosmetics, an Israeli-based company, is accused by human rights organizations of being complicit in Israel's occupation of Palestine and Israel's illegal settlements enterprise. AHAVA has become a key target of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel movement. AHAVA operates in Israel's illegal settlements in violation of international law and, furthermore, AHAVA is also in violation of the Department of Trade and Industry's recent government notice preventing the false labeling of Israeli products manufactured by companies in Israel's illegal settlements which are situated in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, these products are mislabeled as "Made in Israel" instead of "Made in illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories". In fact, AHAVA was specifically mentioned in the DTI notice as one of those companies guilty of false Israeli labeling.

In the USA the campaign against AHAVA has taken on many creative protests led by women such as Nancy Krickorian and the CodePink Stolen Beauty Campaign. In the UK, AHAVA has been forced to close down its flagship shop in London due to boycott actions; earlier this year AHAVA was dropped by major Canadian retailer, The Bay; then a few months back, the Japanese agent of AHAVA, announced that it has ended all sales of AHAVA products. In July 2012, Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Roy Disney (co-founder of the Walt Disney company) disclaimed her share of her family’s $12 million investment in AHAVA. Most recently, the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the USA, comprising of over 2 million members, voted on the 08th of July 2012 to boycott Israel's AHAVA Cosmetics. The decision by Cape Town's Wellness Warehouse to remove AHAVA products from their shelves is yet another victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel movement which is currently gaining momentum around the world.

Bruce Baigrie, a UCT student, said of the joint protest over the weekend: "Today's action shows that ordinary people, acting together, can bring about change. Advancing the boycott of Israel is a concrete form of solidarity with the Palestinian people and their progressive Israeli allies which we hope will eventually bring and end to Israeli Apartheid and usher in freedom - for all!".

Muhammed Desai of BDS South Africa, the local arm of the international boycott of Israel movement in South Africa welcomed the protest and subsequent decision by Wellness Warehouse: "It is about time that companies realize that its neither fashionable nor profitable to trade with Israeli companies who are contributing to Israeli human rights abuses against the indigenous Palestinian people. We welcome the decision by Wellness Warehouse to dump Israel's AHAVA and we commend Open Shuhada Street and the students of UCT Palestine Solidairty Forum. It is in this spirit that we call on all other South African retailers that may still stock AHAVA cosmetics including the Dischem Group, Foshini stores, Truworths and Stuttafords to immediately end their trade with AHAVA and all Israeli companies. This until Israel abides to international law and respects the human rights of the Palestinian people."