"Pal Unemployment" - Soda Stream May Close Controversial West Bank Factory.

"Pal Unemployment" - Soda Stream May Close Controversial West Bank Factory. HT: Forward.

SodaStream will decide within two months whether to close the West Bank plant that prompted a high-profile boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against the Israel-based beverage machine maker, CEO Daniel Birnbaum said Wednesday.

The Israeli beverage maker’s decision has nothing to do with the “financial terrorists” who organized the boycott, said Birnbaum. The BDS campaign turned U.S. actress Scarlett Johansson into a darling of Israel supporters when she quit her role as Oxfam representative over the charity’s insistence that she could not represent SodaStream if she were to remain with Oxfam.

“The considerations will be purely financial, and do not include the European boycott on manufacturing in the territories,” said Birnbaum. “Nor [will they include] the various calls to boycott products of the company because of its location in Ma’aleh Adumim. The boycott is a nuisance, but does not cause serious financial damage. We are not giving in to the boycott. We are Zionist.”

The home soda-machine manufacturer – which has lost more than 35% of its value over the past year, financial news company The Street reported August 19 – will not cave in to boycotters’ demands, Birnbaum said.“We won’t give in to terror,” he said.

The possible closure of the West Bank plant, located in the industrial zone of Mishor Adumim, outside Jerusalem, is a result of expanded activity in a new plant in the Negev town of Lehavim.

Even if the Mishor Adumim plant remains open, SodaStream could still decide within the next two months to cut down its activity there. It is relocating some of its Mishor Adumim production lines, where the beverage machines are manufactured, to Lehavim.

SodaStream has already fired 100-200 workers at the West Bank plant. There are now 1,100 employees there, of whom 850 are Israeli Arabs or Palestinians. The company also has a plant in the Galilee and another in Ashkelon, and 20 additional plants around the world.

Birnbaum said SodaStream plans to cut costs of the soda-making machine by 4% if it becomes more efficient.Hmmm....Their BSD just managed to destroy Palestinian jobs....great job.

Anti-Israeli protesters in the US will try today to illegally block docking/unloading of a Israeli owned ship

Anti-Israeli protesters in the US will try to illegally block docking/unloading of a Israeli owned ship on the West coast today.(Walla) [GoogleTranslate].

Pro-Palestinian activists in the United States and Canada are planning a series of actions that will commence this evening (Saturday), in order to prevent an Israeli merchant vessels to dock and unload goods. 

Ship of the "Zim", is expected to arrive at 15:00 (local time), west coast of the United States, after being delayed several hours on arrival background check.

The initiative stand among other South African unions, calling "to do what they did to the Israeli apartheid apartheid South Africa". Advertising initiative, dubbed "Block the Boat" ("blocked the ship"), states: "The Palestinians call employees working around the world to refuse to deal with Israeli goods.

Protest will be expected to take place this evening in Oakland, California after which additional rallies scheduled in Seattle and Vancouver in the coming weeks. This is part of a campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) began in 2005, in order to exert international pressure on Israel to "end the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians", according to organizers.

"International Trade ZIM currently funding the occupation of Palestine," a statement issued by the activists claimed. They explained that the port will reach Auckland, where "employees will read and respect the request to stand by the Palestinian people." Spokeswoman for the port workers union, Jennifer Sargent, said network Al Jazeera that he is not involved in the initiative.

In 2010, the Association of International stevedores and warehouse personnel (ILWU) has collaborated with a similar initiative, and his friends refused to unload goods from a ship of the "Zim". Even in the 80 Tmf organization similar initiatives, when he refused to unload goods from South Afri

We are confident in keeping with their long tradition of political protest, they will respect our request and will not work with the Israeli ship," said Mohamed Play, spokesman of the "Critical Resistance", which is involved in the initiative.

Play added that activists can gather near the ship, in order to "create a safety hazard" to prevent workers from doing their jobs. "It is our duty to ensure that the operation will be successful, so they will not have to choose," he said. 
 
Hmmm.....Boycott Divestment and Israel Lie #3: BDS and the Law - Is an illegal act in the US : "No US person may participate in foreign sanctions boycott against nations friendly to United Stases"

@MFS001 @Akusia Boycotting Israel is a Criminal Offence http://t.co/N7nAnF23av Prosecute The Boycotters

— Skip V. Patel (@TheFlying_Camel) August 16, 2014

"The case of the Zionist potatoes" - Kuwait Launches Probe of Israeli Potatoes.

'You don't bring Jewish potatoes to a meeting'

"The case of the Zionist potatoes" - Kuwait Launches Probe of Israeli Potatoes.HT: Matzav.

Kuwait’s commerce ministry has launched an investigation into reports that Israeli potatoes were being sold in the country.

“The ministry has a zero-tolerance policy towards the import and sale of Israeli products,” ministry sources told Al Kuwaitiya.

“The ministry is currently coordinating with several parties to reach a conclusion about the allegations and ensure that they are not malicious,” ministry sources told local daily Al Kuwaitiya.

“The ministry has a zero-tolerance policy towards the import and sale of Israeli products and if there are Israeli potatoes in the stores, there will be stringent action against those involved,” the sources said.

Kuwait, like most Arab countries, has no diplomatic or commercial relations with Israel and has rigorously implemented a 1964 law that banned the possession and trade of all Israeli products. Reports on the existence of Israeli products in the Kuwaiti market have been widely circulated in the virtual world even though they conflicted in the real world.

“The product has been spotted in several places and I would like to know how those in charge of monitoring the import of foreign products allowed it into the country,” said Khalid Al Subai, the deputy head of the Consumer Protection Society, according to Gulf News.

Abdul Aziz Al Samhan, the head of the Cooperative Societies Union, has denied the existence of any Israeli products in Kuwait’s cooperatives. “This is definitely a red line that no one is allowed to cross under any name,” he said in a statement. We do deplore the allegations by some people and the accusations they levelled at Al Nassem Cooperative claiming that it was selling potatoes in bags with an Israeli label,” he said, according to Gulf News.

Saudi Arabia Hires Israeli-Friendly Company for Hajj Security.

Saudi Arabia Hires Israeli-Friendly Company for Hajj Security.(AA).

This year, the mandatory Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, will compound the Palestinians’ woes. Palestinian pilgrims will be greeted by a company that assists in their repression – and even torture – under the Israeli occupation regime. Indeed, hajj this year will be brought to you by none other than G4S.

This is not the first time that the Saudi government has hired the private security firm, which has recruited a staggering 700,000 to provide hajj-related services this year, according to exclusive information obtained by Al-Akhbar. Most of the leaked reports indicate that security for the hajj season since 2010 has been entrusted to al-Majal G4S, an affiliate of the parent company G4S.

The private security contractor has also been implicated in enabling the torture of administrative detainees in Palestine, including children, according to BDS activist Zaid Shuaibi.

The CEO of al-Majal G4S is a former security official in Saudi named Khaled Baghdadi. The Saudi subsidiary is fully owned by the British-Danish firm.

The parent company has not disclosed the nature of the contracts it has signed with the Saudi authorities. In its periodic reports, G4S makes limited references to its Saudi operations, such as winning a contract with Jeddah Metro to assist with security during the hajj, or stating that the company assists in the transport of more than 3 million pilgrims who visit Mecca each year. In 2011, the website Asrar Ararabiya – Arab Secrets – published an ad by the company asking people to apply to work in Mecca for seven days only, during hajj.
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign has not been sitting idly by. In a press conference on Wednesday, October 2, the campaign sent a clear message to the Saudi government, urging it to terminate the contract with the company that happens to provide equipment and security services to protect Israeli settlements, occupation checkpoints, and police facilities. The private security contractor has also been implicated in enabling the torture of administrative detainees in Palestine, including children, according to BDS activist Zaid Shuaibi.
BDS activists were not the only ones to react to the news. Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the head of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem and the imam of al-Aqsa Mosque, has proclaimed, “This company operates in security, and has activities and commitments in areas under Israeli occupation. Those who help the occupation must be held accountable and are complicit in the crime, as those who help aggressors also are aggressors.”
Shuaibi, speaking to Al-Akhbar, said that the BDS campaign contacted the Palestinian Ministry of Economy, being the competent authority in the issue of boycotting settlements, such as the ones serviced by G4S. But according to Shuaibi, “The ministry did not bother to respond or take action to stop the abuse, even as the company violates Palestinian law by continuing to provide services to the settlements.”Hmmmm.....Must be a 'Zionist plot'.lol