Scarlett Johansson stands by SodaStream
- 10 years ago
Calls to boycott SodaStream intensify.
The Israel-based manufacturer of home soda making appliances, has invoked the wrath of pro-Palestinian activists for running a factory in the occupied West Bank.
Things heated up after actress Scarlett Johansson became the company's "global brand ambassador."
Labor activists and a Palestinian employee says the company is exploiting Palestinian workers and is benefiting from cheap land and tax breaks.
SOUNDBITE: Nabil Shrat, Palestinian worker at Sodastream factory, saying (Arabic):
"We are in contact with the Israeli workers. We succeeded in showing them what is the Palestinian worker is like. Show them what they didn't know. What they didn't know about us because they had the impression that maybe we were terrorists, maybe we were trouble makers, maybe based on the first Intifada, or the second or the third. But they know how to deal with us and who we are."
SodaStream CEO, Daniel Birnbaum, says the factory is
The Israel-based manufacturer of home soda making appliances, has invoked the wrath of pro-Palestinian activists for running a factory in the occupied West Bank.
Things heated up after actress Scarlett Johansson became the company's "global brand ambassador."
Labor activists and a Palestinian employee says the company is exploiting Palestinian workers and is benefiting from cheap land and tax breaks.
SOUNDBITE: Nabil Shrat, Palestinian worker at Sodastream factory, saying (Arabic):
"We are in contact with the Israeli workers. We succeeded in showing them what is the Palestinian worker is like. Show them what they didn't know. What they didn't know about us because they had the impression that maybe we were terrorists, maybe we were trouble makers, maybe based on the first Intifada, or the second or the third. But they know how to deal with us and who we are."
SodaStream CEO, Daniel Birnbaum, says the factory is