Israeli Comp Soda Stream offers 1,000 jobs to Syrian refugees in Israel.

Israeli Comp Soda Stream offers 1,000 jobs to Syrian refugees in Israel. (I24news).

"As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I refuse to stand by and observe this human tragedy unfold right across the border in Syria,"

Company, which was targeted by BDS over its West Bank plant, says it could employ refugees in southern Israel

SodaStream International, the Israeli manufacturer of sparkling water makers, is offering jobs to 1,000 Syrian refugees in its newly opened plant in the southern Israeli town of Rahat.

SodaStream and Rahat can absorb 1,000 individuals, or up to 200 families, and provide them with an opportunity to build a new life in Israel, pending Israeli authorities' approval, according to a news release issued by the company.

Israeli authorities are unlikely to grant approval to such an initiative, given that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected all the proposals brought up for Israel to take in Syrian refugees.

"As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I refuse to stand by and observe this human tragedy unfold right across the border in Syria," Birnbaum was quoted as saying in the news release.

"Just as we have always done our best to help our Palestinian brothers and sisters in the West Bank, the time has come for local business and municipal leaders to address the Syrian humanitarian crisis and take the initiative to help those in need. We cannot expect our politicians to bear the entire burden of providing aid for the refugees." Hmmmm........“Tikkun olam” (literally, “world repair”) has come to connote social action and the pursuit of social justice. Read the full story here.

"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.