Posted on 01/31/2014 7:24:09 AM PST by Squawk 8888
Oxfam, the global charity that describes itself as "determined to change that world by mobilizing the power of people against poverty," has decided it prefers Palestinians to be poor, hungry and unemployed.
This all involves a Hollywood actress, a Super Bowl ad, an at-home soda maker and some confused liberals who appear to prefer their poor people stay poor.
Scarlett Johansson has been an Oxfam global ambassador, helping to raise money and the profile of the charity's work around the world, but after ScarJo, as her fans call her, opted to appear in a Super Bowl ad for SodaStream, things fell apart.
SodaStream makes gadgets that let consumers produce soft drinks and bubbly water at home. Given that the product uses tap water and reuses the same bottles over and over again, you would think this product would be a do-gooders dream.
Wrong.
SodaStream is an Israeli company and to some people that makes it bad. Even worse, the company has a manufacturing plant in the West Bank, disputed territory to say the least.
Oxfam, which boycotts goods made in the West Bank, are part of a group that punishes Israel and are similar to those in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement which seeks to punish Israel, Israeli companies and anyone who deals with Israel while it still holds any land taken in the 1967 six-day war.
So when Johansson agreed to appear in a SodaStream ad airing during the Super Bowl, the activists went into overdrive.
Unable to convince the star to drop SodaStream and feeling pressure from their left-wing friends in the BDS movement, Oxfam told Johansson to resign. She did.
"Oxfam believes that businesses, such as SodaStream, that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support," Oxfam said in a statement published on its website.
While Oxfam "works to support" communities, SodaStream is actually putting people to work by providing good paying jobs.
SodaStream's plant in the West Bank employs 900 Arabs from territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority or east Jerusalem. The company built prayer facilities into the factory to allow workers to carry out their religious observances
A promotional video for the company posted online shows Israeli Jews working side by side with Israeli Arabs, Palestinians and newcomers from Ethiopia, Iraq and elsewhere. The production manager profiled, Muhammed Barhum, is an Arab and a Muslim and yet sings the praises of the company he works for.
"Here there isn't any discrimination," he says.
None of that matters to the good folks at Oxfam's head office in Oxford, UK. They want SodaStream to stop operating in the West Bank even if that means people like Barhum are left unemployed, unable to feed their families.
My wife and I bought a SodaStream a couple of years ago before I ever knew there was controversy attached to this company, before I knew it was an Israeli company. All we saw was a good product that made something we liked and wanted to have.
But to today's activist left, every act is a political act. Every purchase, every interaction, every statement is about politics.
We didn't buy SodaStream as a political statement, but our continued use of the machine will be a statement. One that says we'd rather support communities by putting them to work than work to support communities by donating to Oxfam.
I can't recall ever donating to Oxfam in the past, but their latest actions have ensured I never will.
Good information, thanks for the post.
Oxfam is virulently Anti-Semitic.
Without the 'poor victims' there would be no reason for the Marxist party. They need plantation dwellers to reelect them and bow and scrape to their revisionist policies.
I just found out yesterday that soda stream is an Israeli company. I bought a sodastream last night.
My reasons for buying one were I like bubbly drinks and I wanted to make a political statement with my money.
The idiots who are pushing this anti Israel West Bank crap are making a big mistake. I can’t be the only person who is buying this soda thing after hearing about the boycott.
I don’t have a sodastream. I may have to get one.
I knew Sodastream was Israeli, but I didn’t know that Abdullah and Achmed were feeding their families because I bought the machine and really like the Diet Root Beer.
Let’s see...Israeli Jews make a profit and Palestinian families have homes and food for the kids.
Just the thing to make the LEFT go insane. They know that respectful cooperation and mutual respect can be really contagious. Muslim and Jew getting along....Oh NO!!!
(Also...the Orange is good, too)
pop? you must be west of Pittsburgh. Maybe it should be called popstream.
I, too, had no idea it was Israeli until I read about this incident with OxFam.
Samsung has a refrigerator with a Soda Steam built into the outer door water, Ice and now Soda Stream distribution!
Keep on bitchin’ you stupid leftists!
“You must be west of Pittsburgh?”. You betcha! Western South Dakota!
I know liberals that refuse to drink Coke and will only drink Pepsi.
Prepare to be addicted. You can buy Coke, Dr Pepper, & numerous commercial sodas bag-in-box via Amazon & others. We just buy from the provider we found on there, now. It’s fantastic having a delicious Dr Pepper instead of the bong water in cans or bottles. It’s great for just seltzer, too.
Annd the SodaStream bottles really do stay carbonated longer.
One of the best investments we ever made!
I thought “Pop” was a Michigan thing.
SodaStream’s plant in the West Bank employs 900 Arabs from territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority or east Jerusalem.-—————
Those evil Israelis!
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