Superdrug has removed Ahava skincare products from its online marketplace after researchers raised concerns about possible links to activity at an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. The products had been sold by a third-party seller, and the retailer said it would now block any future listings of the brand from all sellers.
The move puts fresh focus on a brand that has long faced scrutiny over where its products are made and how its raw materials are sourced. A Superdrug spokesperson said the company had removed the SKU and put additional system measures in place to stop future listings, while Ahava has insisted that by 2022 all production activities had been consolidated within internationally recognized Israeli territory. Ron Michael, speaking for the company, said the brand’s muds, salts and botanicals have always been collected from undisputed Israeli territory.
The concerns behind the removal were raised by the American Friends Service Committee, which shared images it said showed activity at a site in the Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem. Those images reportedly included containers bearing production and receipt dates from 2025 and 2026. A recording reportedly captured an Ahava employee at the visitor center in Ein Gedi saying the Mitzpe Shalem site continues to process raw mud and salt materials before they are transferred elsewhere for production.
Ahava denied operating a production facility in Mitzpe Shalem, drawing a sharp line between what it says happens at the site and what researchers say they observed there. That dispute matters because it goes to the heart of whether products sold under the Ahava name are still tied, in any way, to settlement-related activity even after the company says its production was consolidated years ago.
The episode lands in the middle of wider British scrutiny of trade linked to Israeli settlements. The UK government considers Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank illegal under international law, Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has recommended banning imports from illegal settlements, and the Business and Trade Committee has pressed ministers on settlement-related commerce. Ahava and its parent company, Fosun International, were also added in 2025 to a UN database of companies involved in activities linked to Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. For Superdrug, the immediate result is simple: the brand is off the marketplace, and the company has said it will not allow it back through any seller.
