Military Audit: Waitrose

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

No public evidence identified. Checks spanned the OHCHR settlement-business database (both the 2023 PDF update and the September 2025 press release), the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians’ October 2024 legal correspondence to UK supermarkets, and the Israeli Ministry of Defence’s SIBAT Defense and HLS Directory, none of which surfaced a contract, tender, framework agreement, or MOU between Waitrose (or John Lewis Partnership) and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Israel Prison Service, or Israel Border Police ¹²³⁴.

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

No public evidence identified. Waitrose operates as a food and general-merchandise retailer with no identified ruggedised, tactical, or mil-spec product lines, a conclusion checked against the SIBAT Defense and HLS Directory’s exporter listings, in which no Waitrose entry was found ⁴.

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

No public evidence identified of Waitrose equipment, vehicles, or machinery deployed in settlement construction, the separation barrier, or military installations. The only occupied-territory nexus identified in the memo concerns agricultural produce sourcing rather than construction or engineering activity: Waitrose has stocked own-brand Medjoul dates traced to the Hadiklaim cooperative, Carmel wine sourced from Golan Heights and northern West Bank (“Shomron”) vineyards, and - via the “Edom UK” joint venture linking Glinwell and Valley Grown Salads - produce documented by researchers as packaged at the Beit Ha’arava settlement packing house in the Jordan Valley ⁵⁶. Waitrose publicly denied wrongdoing in connection with such sourcing claims ⁷, and separately stated in 2014 that it had stopped selling herbs from Israeli West Bank settlements, describing the move as “purely commercial” ⁸⁵.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

No public evidence identified. Cross-referencing checks against Elbit Systems, Rafael, and Israel Aerospace Industries - including direct review of the Who Profits company profile for Elbit Systems - surfaced no supply, component, sub-system, or manufacturing linkage to Waitrose ⁹.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

No public evidence identified of Waitrose providing catering, transport, fuel, waste, or facilities services to IDF bases, training facilities, or detention centres in the West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, or the Negev. Waitrose’s identified third-party logistics arrangements, such as its UK distribution contract with XPO Logistics, are domestic commercial agreements with no identified defence or Israel-related dimension ¹⁰.

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

No public evidence identified. The PAX/Don’t Buy Into Occupation coalition’s June 2024 report on the companies arming Israel and their financiers, which catalogues arms manufacturers, platform integrators, and their financial backers, does not include Waitrose, John Lewis Partnership, or any UK grocery retailer within its documented scope ¹¹.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

Separate UK litigation, Al-Haq v. Secretary of State for Business and Trade, challenged UK government export licensing of F-35 components with a potential end-use nexus to Israel; the High Court rejected the challenge in a judgment reported in early July 2025, and a House of Commons Library briefing tracks UK arms-export policy toward Israel more broadly, but neither source names or involves Waitrose ¹²¹³. In a distinct, non-export-control matter, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians issued a legal notice dated 30 October 2024 to Waitrose & Partners (and seven other UK supermarkets) citing Section 52 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001, Sections 328/329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and the 19 July 2024 ICJ Advisory Opinion, demanding disclosure of due-diligence procedures concerning settlement-linked suppliers of dates, mangoes, avocados, tahini, halva, and bakery products ³. No public evidence identified of any export licence application, denial, suspension, or sanctions-enforcement action specifically involving Waitrose and Israeli defence or security end-users.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

Corporate Occupation’s 2020 investigation documented Waitrose stocking own-brand (“Hadrawi,” “Duchy”) Medjoul dates traced to the Israeli cooperative Hadiklaim, a 2010 finding of Achva halva labelled as produced in the Barkan West Bank settlement, and Carmel wine with vineyards in the Golan Heights and northern West Bank ⁵. In February 2015, Waitrose Kitchen magazine distributed a government-of-Israel-submitted “Taste of Israel” promotional pamphlet that drew social-media backlash for describing traditional Arabic foods as Israeli ⁸. Waitrose’s parent, John Lewis Partnership, was separately the target of a 2014 boycott campaign after John Lewis department stores (distinct from Waitrose) sold SodaStream products manufactured in the Mishor Adumim industrial zone of the Ma’ale Adumim settlement; John Lewis discontinued SodaStream sales from its shelves in July 2014 ¹⁴¹⁵. BDS Movement and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign list Waitrose among UK supermarkets targeted by consumer boycott campaigns over Israeli settlement produce, alongside Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrisons, with direct-action incidents including activists removing avocados, hummus, and dates from a Preston Waitrose branch in 2024 ¹⁶¹⁷. Waitrose’s public response to boycott pressure stated that its produce is grown on farms where “a Palestinian and Israeli workforce have worked side by side for years,” a response PSC characterised as “entirely disingenuous” given the farms’ settlement locations ¹⁶; Waitrose has also directly denied claims regarding its sourcing of Israeli products ⁷. The UN Special Rapporteur’s July 2025 report, From economy of occupation to economy of genocide, and its accompanying OHCHR press release discuss supermarket chains generically as channels through which settlement produce reaches global markets, though no Waitrose-specific citation was identified within the report ¹⁸¹⁹. A review of Waitrose Foundation’s public charity-partnership materials found no Israeli or Israeli-defence-linked charitable beneficiaries among its listed agricultural-development partners ²⁰. A review of John Lewis Partnership’s disclosed leadership team - including its Chairman, Deputy Chairman, CFO, Waitrose Managing Director, and Non-Executive and Elected Directors - found No public evidence identified of defence-board roles, defence-industry directorships, or public co-belligerency statements regarding Israel ²¹.

End Notes