Top Ten Brands to Boycott this Christmas

"Top Ten Brands to Boycott this Christmas"
Posted by Right Of Return Coalition on Thu, 12/03/2009 - 13:05

USCBI (U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel)


While there are many Israeli and multinational companies that benefit from apartheid, we put together this list to highlight ten specific companies to target.
Many of these produce goods in such a way that directly harms Palestinians — exploiting labor, developing technology for military operations, or supplying equipment for illegal settlements. Many are also the targets of boycotts for other reasons, like harming the environment and labor violations.


1. AHAVA



This brand’s cosmetics are produced using salt, minerals, and mud from the Dead Sea — natural resources that are excavated from the occupied West Bank. The products themselves are manufactured in the illegal Israeli settlement Mitzpe Shalem. AHAVA is the target of CODEPINK’s “Stolen Beauty” campaign.



2. Delta Galil Industries






Israel’s largest textiles manufacturer provides clothing and underwear for such popular brands as Gap, J-Crew, J.C. Penny, Calvin Klein, Playtex, Victoria’s Secret (see #10) and many others. Its founder and chairman Dov Lautman is a close associate of former Israeli President Ehud Barak. It has also been condemned by Sweatshop Watch for its exploitation of labor in other countries such as Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey.



3. Motorola



While many of us know this brand for its stylish cellphones, did you know that it also develops and manufactures bomb fuses and missile guidance systems? Motorola components are also used in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or “drones”) and in communications and surveillance systems used in settlements, checkpoints, and along the 490 mile apartheid wall. The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has launched the “Hang Up on Motorola” campaign.



4. L’Oreal / The Body Shop




This cosmetics and perfume company is known for its investments and manufacturing activities in Israel, including production in Migdal Haemek, the “Silicon Valley” of Israel built on the land of Palestinian village Al-Mujaydil, which was ethnically cleansed in 1948. In 1998, a representative of L’Oreal was given the Jubilee Award by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for strengthening the Israeli economy.





5. Dorot Garlic and Herbs



These frozen herbs that are sold at Trader Joe’s are shipped halfway around the world when they could easily be purchased locally. Trader Joe’s also sells Israeli Cous Cous and Pastures of Eden feta cheese that are made in Israel. QUIT, South Bay Mobilization, and other groups have targeted Trader Joe’s with a “Don’t Buy into Apartheid” campaign.



6. Estee Lauder




This company’s chairman Ronald Lauder is also the chairman of the Jewish National Fund, a quasi-governmental organization that was established in 1901 to acquire Palestinian land and is connected to the continued building of illegal settlements. Estee Lauder’s popular brands include Clinique, MAC, Origins, Bumble & Bumble, Aveda, fragrance lines for top designers, and many others. They have been the target of QUIT’s “Estee Slaughter Killer Products” campaign.



7. Intel



This technology company that manufactures computer processors and other hardware components employs thousands of Israelis and has exports from Israel totaling over $1 billion per year. They are one of Israel’s oldest foreign supporters, having established their first development center outside of the US in 1974 in Haifa. Al-Awda (the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition) has urged action against Intel for building a facility on the land of former village Iraq Al Manshiya, which was cleansed in 1949.



8. Sabra



This brand of hummus, baba ghanoush and other foods is co-owned by Israel’s second-largest food company The Strauss Group and Pepsico. On the “Corporate Responsibility” section of its website, The Strauss Group boasts of its relationship to the Israeli Army, offering food products and political support.



9. Sara Lee



Sara Lee holds a 30% stake in Delta Galil (see #2) and is the world’s largest clothing manufacturer, which owns or is affiliated with such brands as Hanes, Playtex, Champion, Leggs, Sara Lee Bakery, Ball Park hotdogs, Wonderbra, and many others. Similar to L’Oreal (see #4), a representative of Sara Lee received the Jubilee Award from Netanyahu for its commitment to business with Israel.





10. Victoria’s Secret



Most of Victoria’s Secret’s bras are produced by Delta Galil (see #2), and much of the cotton is also grown in Israel on confiscated Palestinian land. Victoria’s Secret has also been the target of labor rights’ groups for sourcing products from companies with labor violations, and by environmental groups for their unsustainable use of paper in producing their catalogues. That’s not sexy!



Remember, it’s also important to let these companies — and the stores that sell them — know that we will not support them as long as they support Israeli apartheid!

What is Jerusalem?

What is Jerusalem ?

Ibrahim Alloush

The Star, Monday, Dec. 7, 2009

http://www.star. com.jo/main/ index.php? option=com_ content&view=article&id=16706&catid=17:op- ed&Itemid=111


While in the U.S.A, an Arab or a Muslim may hear many an American protest: "but the Christians have the Vatican , and the Muslims have Mecca . So why can't the Jews have Jerusalem ?!" The implied condemnation in that rhetorical question naturally turns Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and supporters of the Palestinian cause everywhere into contemptible fanatic poachers, "anti-semitic" to be sure, who are conspiring with the rest of the world to deny Judaism a holy center of faith of its own!

By extension, the following question is also frequently posed: why are Arabs and Muslims so incensed that the Jews are digging for the Temple of Solomon beneath Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock?! Read: what do you have to hide? Are you afraid that the Temple of Solomon would be found, practically proving that those Arab Islamic and Christian holy places were built on stolen Jewish property by “an Arab occupation? Let them dig for their long-lost temple for goodness sake, and if they find nothing, what do you have to lose?!

Mind you, the excavation has delved so deeply and extensively underneath Al Aqsa Mosque, reaching the pre-Hebrew Canaanite Epoch, dating back several millennia, still without hitting any Temple of Solomon or even a shred of Jewishness!

More importantly, the earth beneath the structure of Al Aqsa Mosque has been so disemboweled, which made the grounds beneath it so shaky, a somewhat powerful underground explosion or an earthquake would probably bring the Holy Muslim edifice down altogether like a crumbling house of cards.

Thus, there is no longer any doubt in the minds of concerned people everywhere what the real purpose of the digging is. The massive underground network of tunnels, inroads, and state-sponsored synagogues is simply meant to physically undermine Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock; that is, it is meant to usurp the Arab identity of Jerusalem , and to make Jewish history out of nothing at all!

Consequently, contrary to what may seem at the surface, those issues are not purely about religion as much as they are about the identity of the land and whether it's Arab or not. For archaeological and religious issues here are nothing but thin veneer for a vexing contemporary and worldly question: is Jerusalem , and by extension Palestine , Arab or Jewish? Whose birthright is it? And, hence, who gets to keep it and rule over it? THAT is the crux of the matter that secularly-minded individuals in the West and the East gloss over when they gloat or grumble about fanatics on both sides killing each other over slabs of earth and stone.

For example, in the movie The Kingdom of Heaven (2005) by Ridley Scott, that many mistook for an atypically pro-Arab picture, the hero Balian of Ibelin (Actor Orlando Bloom) wonders before the invader community of Crusaders in Jerusalem as it braces for the impending Arab attack: What is Jerusalem ? Your holy places lie over the Jewish temple that the Romans pulled down. The Muslim places of worship lie over yours. Which is more holy?... The wall? The Mosque? The Sepulchre? Who has claim? No one has claim! All have claim!

So, if no one has claim, certainly the Arabs don't! And if all have claim, certainly the Arabs can't claim that Jerusalem is Arab, can they? In the end, we're talking about the question of who wields political power here, and about the need to justify the presence of invaders in Palestine , as rulers, not as pilgrims passing through for example. Certainly we are not talking about freedom of worship here (which was guaranteed under Muslim rule in the life of Jerusalem more than any other). We are talking about falsifying history to rationalize foreign occupations. If Arabs are an occupation, then they shouldn't complain about another which replaced them, especially if it allegedly predated them.

But after more than six decades of Zionist occupation, no Jewish Temple was ever found, and if there ever was one in Palestine, who is to say it used to lie exactly where Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are today?! Never mind that alleged Jewish archaeological remnants in the land have been extremely scarce and suspect. Never mind that even according to the Torah the Canaanites existed in Palestine long before, during, and after the Hebrews allegedly came through. Never mind the fact that the Canaanites descended upon the land from the Arabian Peninsula and that their tongue is an ancient Arabic one. After all, this is not some abstruse academic debate on history.

Yet when some claim that Palestine belongs to no one, we have to insist that it has been Arab since time immemorial, in the face of all transient foreign occupations, and that we have the historical and cultural ties to prove it, including Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Palestine is not a land without an identity any more than it is a land without a people. Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinians and Palestine belongs to the Arabs just like Le Seine belongs to the French and Shanghai to the Chinese. Furthermore, when those who tell us that Jerusalem belongs to no one and to all declare their own countries as belonging to no one and to all, we promise to solemnly consider their propositions for Jerusalem seriously.

Setting questions of history and identity aside, the point remains that Jerusalem in modern times has become the locus of festering political contradictions at many levels. For the Arabs, Jerusalem stands as a symbol of Arab defeat before Western colonialism. For Palestinians under occupation and in the diaspora, Jerusalem represents the essence of the conflict with the Zionist movement over the right of ownership to the land here and now. For the Islamic World, Jerusalem signifies another crusader incursion at the cultural and religious levels. Finally, for anti-imperialists worldwide, Jerusalem pertains to the liberation struggle against Zionism and imperialism on the very front where that two-headed monster has thrown all of its colossal might. Although Jerusalem might mean more of this and less of that to different people, there is no question whatsoever that the demise of Israel and the liberation of Palestine will mark a watershed in human history, as it will help spell the end of the imperialist order everywhere.

Surely, Jerusalem is not a substitute for Palestine . It's just the mascot of the cause of Palestinian liberation. Neither are Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock a substitute for Jerusalem . They are but its crowing jewels along with all the other Arab Muslim and Christian Holy places in the city. The southwestern wall of Al Aqsa Mosque, the alleged "wailing wall", what we call in Arabic the wall of the "˜buraqâ", is definitely not a substitute for Al Aqsa Mosque either. Therefore, it's no wonder on the eve of the 1967 occupation of the eastern sector of the city, where Al Aqsa Mosque is located, that Moshe Dayan, an overtly a-religious former Israeli Minister of Defense, led a bunch of Rabbis to pray at the Wall of the Buraq. He understood the significance of that wall to be more than religious, for it condenses the fragments of the Arab-Zionist struggle into one bloc, literally.

To highlight the connection delineated above, it should be pointed out that the whole of Jerusalem and vicinity today, not only Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is being subjected to a process of forced Judaization. The infamous "Wall of Separation" meandering through the West Bank has actually separated Jerusalem from the West Bank and subdivided Arabs within the city into three semi-isolated cantons. The Wall has severed the city from Arab villages in its vicinity, and has cut off Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem from the Old Town where Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock lie. In the meantime, hundreds of Jerusalemites get their identity cards withdrawn by Zionist occupation authorities every year. Dozens of Arab houses are either confiscated or demolished, while locations are given Hebrew names instead of Arab ones, for example "Har Homa" for Mount Abu Ghnaim.

In the meantime, Zionist settlement and construction in the city continues to expand and grow at the expense of the Arabs, as it has since the first half of the Twentieth Century. As a result, Arab Christians have effectively been evacuated from Jerusalem , with only a few thousand left. Now the Zionists are working on thinning out Arab Muslims. This is why preserving the Arab identity of the city requires all concerned to support Jerusalemites remain steadfast in their city, at least until liberation comes.


The Free Arab Voice www.freearabvoice. org