SodaStream chief accuses boycotters of anti-Semitism

IDAN HANEGEV INDUSTRIAL PARK, Israel (AP) — The chief executive of SodaStream, the beverage maker that is shuttering its West Bank factory in the face of international boycott calls, accused his company's critics Wednesday of anti-Semitism and hurting the interests of the Palestinian workers they claim to protect. SodaStream, which produces machines that allow people to make fizzy drinks, has been targeted by an international campaign calling for boycotting, divesting and sanctioning Israeli companies. Citing financial reasons, SodaStream announced it was closing the West Bank factory last year, but the so-called BDS movement declared victory and said its pressure was behind the decision.
Standing in the sprawling new factory deep in Israel's Negev Desert that will replace the West Bank facility when it shuts down in two weeks, CEO Daniel Birnbaum said the boycott movement has only had a "marginal" effect on his business. He accused the BDS movement of spreading lies and said Palestinian employees were given pay and benefits far higher than anything else they could find in the West Bank.
"It's propaganda. It's politics. It's hate. It's anti-Semitism. It's all the bad stuff we don't want to be part of," Birnbaum said.


http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b85660965000435b9ad54839b85e960a/sodastream-chief-accuses-boycotters-anti-semitism


• AP reporter Tia Goldenberg visited SodaStream’s new Negev factory. The fizzy beverage company made famous by Scarlett Johansson is in the process of transferring its operations from the Mishor Adumim industrial zone in the West Bank. That facility will be closed in two weeks.

SodaStream employed up to 600 Palestinians at the West Bank factory and sought to transfer their jobs to the Israeli plant. But Birnbaum said Israel has granted only 130 work permits so far due to security issues. Many likely will lose their jobs.
 
“All the people who wanted to close (SodaStream’s West Bank factory) are mistaken. … They didn’t take into consideration the families,” said Ali Jafar, a shift manager from a West Bank village who has worked for SodaStream for two years.

BDS chief Omar Barghouti today doesn’t have a credible answer for Palestinians left unemployed by the boycott’s “success” any more than the movement did a year ago when BBC’s Jeremy Paxman and SodaStream CEO David Birnbaum demolished an Oxfam official’s arguments last year in a Newsnight debate worth revisiting.






http://honestreporting.com/idns-09032015-senate-iran/



Just about sums up how idiotic the boycott movement is, where now they have ensured many Palestinians will become unemployed.
This was a place that had hope where both groups of people work side by side together and what does the boycott movement do?
Destroy anything even if small, that was helping build bridges between both sides.

SodaStream Hurt By Forex, Low Demand For Sparkling Waters

The company has struggled to sell its self-branded soda syrups as consumers become more health conscious, seeking to avoid calories and sugar. In response, SodaStream has rolled out a low-calorie, naturally sweetened “Waters” line with flavors like “lime basil’’ and “yuzu mandarin,” priced at about 20 cents a serving.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sodastream-hurt-by-forex-low-demand-for-sparkling-waters-1438779939

And?
What has that to do with the boycott movement advocating to have this site closed?
You are just trying to poorly deflect away from how the boycott movement has all its priorities wrong.
This place employed both Israeli's and Palestinians, now many of the later will be without work and even less chance of obtaining other work, when unemployment is so high there under Hamas.

Cuchulain wrote:And?
What has that to do with the boycott movement advocating to have this site closed?
You are just trying to poorly deflect away from how the boycott movement has all its priorities wrong.
This place employed both Israeli's and Palestinians, now many of the later will be without work and even less chance of obtaining other work, when unemployment is so high there under Hamas.

No. You may like it to be about BDS but the article states certain realities which directly contradict your Zionist propaganda.

Just because you believe the bullshit does not mean others are that naive or ignorant.

Fuzzy Zack wrote:

Cuchulain wrote:And?
What has that to do with the boycott movement advocating to have this site closed?
You are just trying to poorly deflect away from how the boycott movement has all its priorities wrong.
This place employed both Israeli's and Palestinians, now many of the later will be without work and even less chance of obtaining other work, when unemployment is so high there under Hamas.

No. You may like it to be about BDS but the article states certain realities which directly contradict your Zionist propaganda.

Just because you believe the bullshit does not mean others are that naive or ignorant.

Does not contradict anything, as again why was this site forced to shut down?
Just because you keep offering woeful excuses, does not mean I am going to be taken in by your nonsense.
The evidence is there of the boycott movement wanting to close this site down.
Are you now denying this?

So to claim because of sales this is shutting is hearsay on your part.
Seriously your emotive reasoning is comical everytime you post