Showing posts with label SodaStream. Show all posts

Friday, January 31, 2014

SodaStream Plans on Bringing Scarlett Johansson to Israel this Year - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

SodaStream Plans on Bringing Scarlett Johansson to Israel this Year

Posted by: Lea Speyer January 31, 2014 , BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse…” (Genesis 12:3)

(Photo: Facebook)

Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson has been making waves in the news lately for not bowing to pressure to boycott Israel. Johansson, a spokesman for the Israeli based SodaStream company, has been criticized by anti-Israel advocates as supporting an apartheid state and the oppression of Palestinians in Israel.

More specifically, the humanitarian group Oxfam International, of which Johansson is affiliate with, has been pressuring Johansson to leave SodaStream since Oxfam opposes all trade from Israeli settlement. It was announced late this week that the 29 year old actress has decided to split with Oxfam citing a “fundamental difference of opinion.”

“Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years,” the statement said. “She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestments and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam.”

Oxfam released a statement upon Johansson’s departure from the organization, saying it was “grateful for her many contributions.”

“While Oxfam respects the independence of our ambassadors, Ms. Johansson’s role promting the company SodaStream is incompatible with her role as an Oxfam Global Ambassador,” the statement said. “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.”

What is apparent from this whole controversy is that Scarlett Johansson is a friend of Israel. SodaStream announced on Thursday that it is planning on bringing its global ambassador to Israel this year.

SodaStream president Yonah Lloyd told The Jerusalem Post: “She [Johansson] has never been to Israel before. We look forward to hosting her later in the year.”

Johansson last week responded to critics saying she was a “supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine.” She added that SodaStream is “not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights. That is what is happening in their Ma’ale Adumim factory every working day.”

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Scarlett Johansson Continues Stand Against Anti-Israel Bigotry - ISRAEL TODAY

Scarlett Johansson Continues Stand Against Anti-Israel Bigotry

Thursday, January 30, 2014 | Israel Today Staff

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Israel continues to be pleasantly surprised by Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson's principled and determined stand against the anti-Israel bigotry of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The BDS is upset that Johansson has agreed to be a spokesperson for Israeli soda maker SodaStream because the company's main factory is situated in the so-called "West Bank." Among those making up the BDS movement is Oxfam International, a confederation of organizations working to end poverty and related injustice around the world.

Scarlett was one of Oxfam's most recognizable ambassadors. But then the organization joined the public criticism of the actress for representing a product produced by "Jewish settlers."

On Wednesday, a statement released by Johansson's people announced that she "has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years. She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement."

In a recent statement to the Huffington Post regarding the matter, Johansson argued against the position of the BDS movement and, by extension, Oxfam, by pointing out that they had wrongly characterized SodaStream and its involvement with the Palestinians.

"While I never intended on being the face of any social or political movement, distinction, separation or stance as part of my affiliation with SodaStream, given the amount of noise surrounding that decision, I‚Äôd like to clear the air," read the statement. "I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights. That is what is happening in their Ma‚Äôale Adumim factory every working day."

The entire episode is very telling regarding the true intentions of the BDS movement. It mattered not to Oxfam and other BDS activist outfits that what Johansson said is true - that SodaStream, and other Israeli businesses in the "settlements," are providing a crucial economic lifeline to local Palestinians, the bulk of whom are grateful for the jobs and would suffer tremendously if the proposed boycott were to actually be successful.

At the end of the day, this movement's primary goal is to harm Israel, not to better the lives of Palestinian Arabs, and that is an approach that can never lead to peaceful coexistence. It is refreshing to see a member of the West's social elite recognize such hypocrisy and distance herself from it.

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Update on Scarlett Johansson and Oxfam (SodaStream)

Thank you to everyone who voted in the Guardian online poll we drew attention to yesterday, about whether Oxfam should sever its links with actress Scarlett Johansson over her advertising deal with the Israeli company SodaStream.

Our email was opened by nearly 7,000 people, and many of them must have voted as the poll - http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/poll/2014/jan/28/communications - moved from 86% critical of Ms Johansson to only 55% in just 24 hours.

However, things have taken an unexpected twist as Scarlett Johansson has pre-emptively severed her links with Oxfam over its support for the anti-Israel boycott movement rather than vice versa!

She has issued a statement saying:

“Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years. She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam.”

An earlier statement explaining her views said:

“I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbours working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights.”

There is coverage of her decision here:

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/01/30/scarlett-johansson-cuts-ties-with-oxfam-over-groups-support-for-bds-movement/

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-the-a-list-shuns-bds/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/10606240/Scarlett-Johansson-stepping-down-as-Oxfam-ambassador-over-SodaStream-deal.html

Best wishes,

Luke Akehurst
Director, We Believe in Israel

PS, if you haven't signed out petition against Palestinian hate education and indoctrination yet, please do so here: http://www.webelieveinisrael.org.uk/petition/uks-role-major-donor-palestinian-authority/

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Please vote in Guardian poll on Scarlett Johansson's links to Israeli company - UK and worldwide Jan. 29, 2014

www.webelieveinisrael.org.uk

Please vote in Guardian poll on Scarlett Johansson's

links to Israeli company.

Please can you take a few seconds to go on

online and vote "no" to this criticism of Israel

Please can you take a few seconds to go on online and vote "no" to this criticism of Israel (poll at foot of article): http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/poll/2014/jan/28/communications

You will probably be aware of the controversy in recent days because of the actress Scarlett Johansson agreeing to be the advertising face of Sodastream, the manufacturer of machines for making carbonated drinks at home.

Sodastream is an Israeli company which has a manufacturing facility in Area C of the West Bank, at a site which may well become part of Israel in any peace deal. Because it operates in the West Bank it is the subject of intensive boycott campaigning by anti-Israel protesters, including protests at its store in Brighton, here in the UK. The company employs hundreds of Palestinian workers, with pay and conditions well above the Palestinian average. Their livelihoods are at stake if the boycott succeeds. You can read more about Sodastream's operations in the West Bank here: http://forward.com/articles/170873/boycott-israel-push-against-sodastream-could-hurt/

Scarlet Johansson is also a global ambassador for Oxfam. The boycott campaigners are calling for Oxfam to drop her from this role, in line with Oxfam's critical position towards Israel.

The Guardian website is running an unscientific online poll about whether Oxfam should break its links with Scarlett Johansson.

At the moment it is running 85% in favour of this attack on Scarlett Johansson's links to an Israeli company.

Please can you take a few seconds to go on online and vote "no" to this criticism: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/poll/2014/jan/28/communications

Please then forward this email to your friends and family and ask them to vote "no"

Best wishes,

Luke Akehurst

Director, We Believe in Israel

PS If you have been fowarded this email and want to join the "We Believe in Israel" mailing list please sign-up here: http://eepurl.com/mIh3D

#NoScarJo: should Oxfam sever ties with Scarlett Johansson?

Scarlett Johansson's deal with an Isreali company working in the West Bank could hurt Oxfam's brand. Should the NGO end its relationship with the actress? Take the poll

iza Anyangwe
Guardian Professional, Tuesday 28 January 2014 12.16 EST

Scarlett Johansson's advertising deal with SodaStream International Ltd has caused internal tensions at Oxfam. Should she stay or should she go? Photograph: Rex

Just seven days after Oxfam was last in the news with its report on growing global inequality, the international NGO is making headlinesagain but for very different reasons.

It seems its celebrity ambassador, Scarlett Johansson, has signed an advertising deal with SodaStream International Ltd, an Isreali company operating in the West Bank. According to the blog, The Electronic Intifada, the move has caused an "internal revolt" at Oxfam and the organisation's own website alludes to the conflicted position it finds itself in:

"We are proud of our relationship with Scarlett Johansson [and] Oxfam respects the independence of our ambassadors. However Oxfam believes that businesses that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support. Oxfam is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law."

Despite the high profile of both the NGO and its celebrity ambassador, this would just be internal politics, under unique circumstances – except, of course, it isn't. Development researcher, Jonathan Glennie, tweeted as he shared the Electronic Intifada blog: "Was same when I was at @savechildrenuk."

And there are other examples of staff concerned about what affliation with a particular celebrity could mean. A Unicef officer in New Delhi isquoted in the Guardian as saying: "It's bad enough having to accommodate celebrities and their entourage in the aftermath of every major humanitarian disaster. But when most people think of the UN now they think of Angelina Jolie on a crusade, not the work that goes on in the field after humanitarian disasters or on a long-term preventive level."

While there is no doubt that celebrity endorsement yields financial dividends for NGOs and can raise the profile of a cause, it can also infuriate staff and create tensions with communities in which the organisation works. So what should Oxfam do? Take our poll and tell us your experiences or thoughts on celebrities and NGOs in the comment threads below.

Click here: The Guardian Website poll

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Scarlett Johansson is Israel's Unexpected Heroine

Sunday, January 26, 2014 | Ryan Jones, ISRAEL TODAY

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Scarlett Johansson has played a fictional heroine in a number of Hollywood blockbusters. But Scarlett became much more than that to Israelis in recent days when she stood up to pressure from the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Johansson has been contracted to feature in a multi-million dollar commercial for popular Israeli brand SodaStream during the upcoming Super Bowl.

She never imagined that taking the gig would cause such a media storm. But, as many could have predicted, Johansson soon found herself the target of ceaseless criticism from those who believe that companies like SodaStream are a symbol of the evil "Israeli occupation."

Fortunately for Israel, Johansson is too well versed in humanitarian welfare to be taken in by the propaganda, and sees SodaStream for what it is - an Israeli company doing its best to create an atmosphere of coexistence by hiring as many Palestinian Arabs as possible to work alongside its Jewish employees.

Johansson was very clear and direct regarding the matter in a statement made to the Huffington Post:

"While I never intended on being the face of any social or political movement, distinction, separation or stance as part of my affiliation with SodaStream, given the amount of noise surrounding that decision, I’d like to clear the air. I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights. That is what is happening in their Ma’ale Adumim factory every working day."

Critics have tried to portray the SodaStream factory in Ma'ale Adumim as a "slave labor" environment for the Palestinians. ButIsrael Today visited the facility back in November of last year, and found very much the opposite to be true.

Arab employees noted that they are able to make far more money working for the Israeli company than they could elsewhere.

"The salary I earn here enabled me to complete my studies. Not many would do this for the Arab people," explained a fresh-faced Yousef Basharat. "It is only a problem for other people [who call this place a settlement]. I need this work, and I am very happy here."

The Palestinians working at SodaStream also insisted that they are treated with the same respect as their Jewish colleagues.

"Everyone is treated the same here. The privilege that the Israeli worker gets, the Palestinian also gets," said Rani Abed Rabbo, who was offered a management position by SodaStream after losing his job in the hi-tech sector. "There is no discrimination here. We eat together, we laugh together. We feel welcome here."

In fact, contrary to the picture painted by anti-Israel propagandists, the working environment at SodaStream is so desirable that "many other Palestinians are also seeking jobs here," according to Abed Rabbo.

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Friday, January 31, 2014