SodaStream, a maker of machines for carbonating beverages at home, has a factory located in an illegal settlement in the Israel-occupied West Bank, so it has been seen by some in the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as complicit in the oppression of Palestinians. But the so-called BDS movement declared victory and said its pressure was behind the decision.
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New footage shows Israel Defense Forces soldiers extracting five American yeshiva students from Hebron on Thursday, after they became trapped in the West Bank city following riots triggered by their presence. He accused it 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 is all of the unsafe stuff we do not need to be a part of”, Birnbaum stated.
Clashes in Hebron on September 3, 2015.
Israel says the Palestinian “proper of return” would lead to an enormous inflow of refugees that might imply the top of the nation as a Jewish state.
Riya Hassan, Europe campaigns officer with the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), countered Birnbaum’s comments, saying that any suggestion that SodaStream acts out of concern for its Palestinian workforce was “ludicrous” and that real job creation would occur in the West Bank when Israel ended its occupation.
The historic city, the largest in the West Bank, is dominantly home to Palestinians but partly under Israeli control. He stated it will proceed to focus on SodaStream as a result of its new manufacturing unit is situated in an space the place Israel has up to now proposed to resettle Bedouin Arabs. The company employs more than 300 Bedouins.
SodaStream’s revenue took a big hit in 2014.
But luckily for the group, a Palestinian man came to their rescue.
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“SodaStream should have been encouraged in the West Bank if [the BDS movement] truly cared about the Palestinian people”, he continued.
