Workers at West Bank SodaStream don't see the fuss

[Fozzledick]

MISHOR ADUMIM, West Bank — Palestinian Nabil Basharat has worked for years for Israeli-owned SodaStream, where he has risen up to shift manager in its West Bank factory.

He supports his wife and six children on an income he says is quite high by both Palestinian and Israeli standards. Though he'd like to see Palestinians get their own state someday, he doesn't want it to come at the expense of his career.

"They need to understand what the factory gives the Palestinian workers and there are a lot of factories in this area doing the same thing," says Basharat, 40, who lives in a village near Ramallah.

***

SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum told USA TODAY he is "fed up" with the Palestinian- Israeli conflict and says more business people should take the opportunity to contribute to peace in the way SodaStream has.

Birnbaum said a boycott had no impact on SodaStream as the growth rate of the business topped 40% last year, but that it is actually Palestinian workers who pay the price of the boycotts.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/02/04/sodastream-israel-west-bank/5189021/

[King_David]

1. The BDS crowd don't care . To them it's not all about the occupation .

See the unesco threads to understand why the BDS movement calls for boycotts of Jewish Businesses or Jewish Exhibitions.

The posts there are very revealing , especially the first few.

[Violet_Crumble]

23. Why do you keep on repeating things that you know are untrue?

No-one is calling for boycotts of Jewish businesses. I suspect it's because you constantly conflate Israel and Jewish that you experience so much confusion over this. The two are NOT the same, not unless you think criticising anything at all about the Israeli govt is somehow criticising Jews and therefore anti-Semitic.

Also, how about trying to focus on the OP yr replying to for a change? It's clear you oppose any boycott involving Israel's occupation at all, and I wouldn't expect someone who supports the settlers and the occupation to behave any differently. But the argument that the SodaStream plant employs some Palestinians is every bit as pathetic as arguments from the past that Sun City employed black South Africans and therefore the cultural boycott of Sun City was hurting black South Africans. Look how well that argument worked for them back then. They may have got Queen and Elton John to play there, but apartheid wasn't the winner in the end, and Israel's occupation of the West Bank isn't going to be a winner either...

[King_David]

26. Such a jumbled post

Mixing the boycott in with the occupation and settlers etc when none has anything to do with another.

For example when UNESCO cancelled an exhibit ( and later backtracked under pressure) it was because it was a Jewish exhibit and the BDS crowd cheered loudly.
After the backtrack they claimed their favorite claim---- mistranslation or some other shit.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

29. "(and later backtracked under pressure)"

You have yet to prove this with any substantive link. Please do.

We're all waiting.

[King_David]

2. How dare they argue and contradict Oxfam USA

[azurnoir]

6. Hey I've read some blips (tweets ect) that there is a boycott of donations to OxFam being organized

by Israel's supporters-is that true?

[King_David]

7. I am sure there are plenty worthwhile charities donors can choose to support in the world,

Not sure about what you call "Israel Supporters".
But there's many big time Jewish Philanthropists that I would imagine support Israel .

[Jefferson23]

3. Of course he doesn't...how many choices do you think they have?

Daniel Birnbaum is fed up with the occupation?? That's rich.

[Fozzledick]

4. One more than BDST would give them.

[Jefferson23]

11. No kidding..I wonder why that is. Funny how occupations work out. n/t

[Scootaloo]

13. If he's so fed up, surely he can register his business as Palestinian.

I mean, it IS in Palestine. Do you suppose he writes his taxes as a Palestinian business?

[Jefferson23]

15. Nope.

snip*Ma’ale Adumim, like all other Israeli settlements built on occupied land, is illegal and constitutes a war crime under international law. All companies operating in settlements directly support Israel’s illegal occupation and colonization of Palestinian land by paying taxes to municipal settlement governments, employing local settlers, and providing the economic infrastructure for Israel’s settlement expansion. The settlements have always been labelled a problem for peace by successive U.S. administrations, the United Nations and peace negotiators. Recent European Union guidelines state that no settlements should benefit from European Union taxpayers’ money; President Obama has repeated that Ma’ale Adumim’s “E1 Development Plan” is a red line for his Administration.

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/01/palestinians-sodastream-occupation.html


If he was, he would have clarified as such, imo.

[Scootaloo]

16. fed up with the occupation, but not to the level where he'll spurn its handouts.

Well, that's liberal Zionism for you. Platitudes and piracy.

[Dick Dastardly]

17. Or he can just close the W Bank plant and move operations

to one of their more than 15 other plants around the world. The HQ is in Israel and the W Bank plant is only one of many others.
They have 2or3? plants operating in Israel as well as a huge new plant soon coming on line there too. They could probably easily shift production to Israeli plants quickly if the W Bank becomes to much of a headache. It would not be that costly to shift production since they have the extra capacity at other plants. The W Bank plant is one of the largest Palestinian employers and best paying in the W Bank. The only ones who would really suffer are the W Bank Palestinians who would lose their jobs.




BTW its not his business, its a publicly traded corporation on NASDAQ.

[Violet_Crumble]

24. The same argument was used to support Apartheid...

The W Bank plant is one of the largest Palestinian employers and best paying in the W Bank. The only ones who would really suffer are the W Bank Palestinians who would lose their jobs.

Sun City employed a lot of black South Africans in a Bantustan where there was little employment. Yet an international cultural boycott of South Africa existed and artists who played there were placed on a blacklist by the UN. Should we all have gone: 'Oh well. Sun City's a large employer of black South Africans and pays well. The only ones who would really suffer are the black South Africans who would lose their jobs."?

[King_David]

27. You sure try mix up different countries and situations a lot

You always going on and in about South Africa or East Timor .. This is IP and not the international forum.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

30. No, King, it's apartheid. It's alright to compare Israel and apartheid South Africa, silly.

[Dick Dastardly]

28. Its not the same argument as its not aparthied nor even close to the same situation

with regard to the IP conflict.

In any case my argument was not about the pros and cons of the boycott. It was on the CEOs & Scoots comments and given the fact that with more than 15 production facilities around the world including those few that are close by in Israel that they could easily shift production from the W Bank plant to the others at not much cost if the W Bank plant becomes to much of a headache.
The fact is shifting production will only hurt the Palestinians. Who else will it hurt?


Also it is a publically traded NASDAQ company that while it has its HQ in Israel it is no longer simply Israeli owned and can move its HQ to another country quite easily. Boycotting it does not hurt Israel as much as the workers and shareholders around the world.

[azurnoir]

5. It must be frustrating for SodaStream the ad came and went with barely a notice

Cokes ad America the Beautiful seems to have grabbed center stage quite handily

&list=PLCIVZWq1FAwcWJmgdF5o3-QTZZ-OnBUgA

[King_David]

8. Market watch

Social Sentiment BY
81% BullishBased on 1.3K Tweets.
Velocity0.48x


http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/soda

[azurnoir]

9. so sodastream is down $36.14

guess coke did take the spotlight

[King_David]

10. Bullish

Stock market tanked yesterday ...

Coke was down too .( up 28c today)

I don't buy any Coke , Pepsi or Sodastream stock myself.

[Scootaloo]

12. I hope you're placing investment in better rhetorical devices

One can never have too many!

[Dick Dastardly]

14. Sodastream is not down 36.14. It is up $0.91 (2.57%).

It closed today at $36.25 and is up another $0.24 in after hour trading.
It is also up a bit from its close on friday.

Sodastream had record sales in 2013 but its stock dropped 20% on Jan 13 2014 because it released its earnings that were lower than analyst expectations.

[King_David]

19. Yea $36.14 down would of been quite the tank nt

[azurnoir]

25. except even ast that it's still down by more than 1/2 overs its high of $77.80

a bit back, wonder what happened?

[azurnoir]

21. The link reflects the market in real time it was down now it's up

actually soda stream is quite unstable

[King_David]

31. LOL

Actually all Stock Markets are reflecting "unstable"this week .

[azurnoir]

32. yep maybe that;s why sodastream is worth less than half of what it was a short time back

Thanks for the link it was informative

[King_David]

33. Yes it's resulting from a "boycott"

[shaayecanaan]

18. Carry me back to old Virginny.

Carry me back to old Virginny.
There's where the cotton and corn and taters grow.
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring-time.
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

There's where I labored so hard for old Massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn;
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginny, the state where I was born

[King_David]

20. You should send him Mail with your accusations,

Put an Australian stamp on it.

[azurnoir]

22. LOl or "diamonds are forever" back in the '80's DeBeers made the same sort of claims n/t