An unofficial boycott of the Shefa Shook supermarket chain by the Hareidi religious community has intensified towards the huge pre-Passover shopping period. A campaign against the stores began after the chain's owner, Alon Israel Oil Company, announced it would keep its AM/PM stores open on the Sabbath. Shefa Shook is owned the Blue Square susbdiary of Alon.
A rabbinic committee has advertised in two major Hareidi religious newspapers that customers should shop only in businesses that observe the Sabbath. Committee secretary Rabbi Yitzchak Goldknopf said the next step would be for the rabbis to individually sign the request.
An executive of a Hareidi religious advertising firm said the unofficial boycott has cost the chain up to a 50 percent drop in lost revenues, but the chain rejected the estimate and said sales are continuing as usual.