Boycott: Facts and Figures

Cadbury Schweppes – announced on Dec. 17, 2002 plans to invest $4.5 m in Israeli confectionary maker and distributor Carmit after a year’s trial association with Carmit whereby the latter distributed Cadbury’s goods in Israel. The money, Cadbury specified, will be paid in the first three months of 2003 and will be used for the advertising to promote its products in Israel. Carmit would become Carmit-Cadbury

Coca-Cola – bought 43% of Neviot Water in 2001 for c. $20 million, a company
which has 40% of the Israeli bottled water market
* in January 2002 Coca-Cola reported it was beginning negotiations to acquire Golan Wineries, located in the Golan Heights
* in Dec. 2000 bought 33.3%of StoreAlliance, Israeli computer technology supplier, for $5 million through its Israeli subsidiary
* until July 2000 Coca-Cola owned Mayanot Eden which is a water-company based in the Golan
* announced in July 2002 that, in return for millions of dollars in tax breaks from the Israeli government, it will build a new plant in Kiryat Gat. The new plant will employ 700 Israelis.
* sponsors Israel’s national basketball team, “where it invests great amounts of money annually,” also sponsors Israeli national marathons, tennis competitions, and so on; sponsors yearly public Arad Jazz concert at the Red Sea (quote from company’s official Hebrew website)
* Coca-Cola USA sponsors the United Jewish Federation Greater Atlanta branch, which gives to the Jewish community in Israel, aiding, among other things “refugee resettlement” there.
* On October 11th 2001, Coca-Cola World Headquarters hosted the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce Eagle Star Awards Gala in which “Israeli Company of the Year”, “Israeli Technology of the Year”, etc awards were given out by Israel’s Economic Minister to North America. The Coca-Cola Company was also the Platinum sponsor of the whole event.
* together with "Friends of Israel" and National Hillel sponsored a lecture by pro-zionist correspondent Linda Gradstein (of National Public Radio) at the University of Minnesota
* honored by Israel Economic Mission at Israel Trade Award Dinner for continuous support of Israel, as in 1968 in response to Arab boycott, it opened a factory in Israel, event though this brought “serious financial damages to Coca-Cola,” to the tune of “millions of dollars” (quotes taken from company’s official Hebrew website

Danone – opened its R and D in July 1998
* yearly provides 4 scholarships of $25,000 for Israelis for research in nutrition
* holds annual national symposium on nutrition

Disney Company - Gilian Technologies, which provides Web content security
solutions, announced in early 2002 that it had received a $2 M investment from Steamboat Ventures LLC, the venture investment arm of the Walt Disney Company.
* after receiving $1.8 M from Israel towards construction cost of $8 M, Disney unveiled an exhibit in October 200 showing a united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Jewish Chronicle reported on the 24 Sept, 2000: "If you go and see the show there won't be any doubt in your mind that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel." As noted on the friends of al-Aqsa website, “this is an attempt by Disney to mentally condition people in accepting the illegal Israeli claims to Jerusalem.”

Dow Chemical - invested $750,000 in Ashkelon Technological Industries

Eastman Kodak – owns 51% of PictureVision, a Virginian company that runs an
R and D in Israel
* invested in Traiana, an Israeli start-up, in mid-2002
* invested $2.5 M in Eucalyptus Ventures in Sept. 1998

Estée Lauder – CEO Ronald Lauder bought 80% of Jerusalem Capital Studios in
Dec. 1996 for $15.6 M
* bought Ron Shmueli’s Catering CO. for $5 M
* Ronald Lauder Group’s RSL bought 51% of Delta Three in Dec. 1997
* opened the Shalem Center in 1993
* President of the company, Ron Lauder, is also president of the Jewish National Fund which collects monies to usurp Palestinian land and territorial claims.
* He has set up the Ron S Lauder Fund which runs a summer camp for Eastern European Jewish children to encourage their interest in Zionism.
* His foundation the Ronald Lauder Organization financially supports "America's Voices in Israel" - a recently established US-based organization that brings American talk radio hosts to Israel to broadcast their shows back to the US.
* In Jan. 2001, he announced at rally in Jerusalem that Palestinians should not have the right of return.
* Most recently, Lauder has participated on the board of the Israel Emergency Solidarity Fund which raises monies supplementing governmental benefits to give to families of Israeli Jews killed by Palestinian resistance.

Heinz – bought 51% of Remedia in July 1999

Henkel – as part of a joint venture with Sherman Industries, Haifa, whereby each
partner holds a 50% stake in the company, Henkel built a plant in 1996 is to employ 150 staff. The plant represents a 11.5 billion mark investment in Israel.
* in Nov. 2002, Henkel announced it had granted Israeli firm Tambour a license to produce its chemical products locally. The market for these products is about 500 M shekels per year. Henkel’s granting comes at a time when Tambour’s profits were down 76% from the previous year.

Johnson and Johnson – in 1997 bought Biosense, a Haifa based producer of medical
equipment for $400 M
* invested $2.5 million in the Israeli company NeuroSurvival Technologies, at a value of $52.5 million after money, buying it 5% of the company
* R&D in Tirat HaCarmel
* invested in an Israel venture fund for medical start-ups
* produces navigational systems and sensors at Tirat HaCarmel
* buys electro-optical systems equipment from Rotlex

Kimberly-Clark – bought 49.9% of Hogla Israeli paper company for $49.9 M in
June1996
* in Jan. 2001 received approval from the Israeli govt. for a new $18.5 million investment for the expansion of its Hogla-Kimberly factory and in Sept. 2002 it inaugurated its new logistics center at Tzrifin
* Hogla-Kimberly has three production facilities, one for diapers and two for paper products.

L’Oreal – bought 35.5% of Interbeauty in Dec.1996 for $9 M
* produces cosmetics at Migdal Ha’emek
* set up scholarships worth $10,000 for Israeli youth to commemorate the
Jubilee Anniversary

Nestle – first bought into Osem in 1995 and increased its ownership to 50.1% in Dec.
2000
* currently runs a plant at Sderot, Negev (formerly Al-Najd) where many Jewish immigrants from Russia settled in the 1980s.
* The company announced in 2000 that it will invest $6 million in a development center at Sderot, the cost of which 24% will be paid for by the Israeli government.
* Its subsidiary Tzabar Salads is opening in Kiryat Gat (see Coca-Cola above) at a cost of $12.8 million.
* Another subsidiary will open in Ahihud, at the cost of $14 million. Lastly, a new $50 million logistics center will be built in Nachsholim (formerly Al-Tantura).
* the R&D center its subsidiary Osem operates allows Osem to have at least 15% per year of its product line be entirely new
* announced in Sept. 2002 that it would invest $80 million in setting up new plants (in Kiryat Gat and Ahihud) and a $50 million logistics center (in Nachsholim, a “development region,” ie. cleansed of Palestinian presence, now scheduled for increased Jewish presence) by the end of 2003 This is to discourage emigration from Sderot and Israel.
* markets Osem’s food products, such as Tivol tofu meat substitutes to Europe and America
* through its Israeli subsidiary Osem, gives assistance to Israeli schools, donates food and money to “various organizations and welfare associations”

Pepsico – owns 50% of Strauss Israeli food-makers salty snacks line
* bought 50% of Elite Food Products in Nov. 1998

Philip Morris –sole sponsor of the 1996 Conference on Freedom where a National
Freedom Award was given posthumously to Yitzhak Rabin
* sole sponsor in 1996 via its subsidiary Parliament of the Sculpture Biennale of Ein-Hod (a Palestinian village cleansed of inhabitants in 1948 but whose structures were preserved as an artists’ colony)
* contributes to the Israeli Meretz Party
* in 2001, “aggressively” recruited applicants for grants and postdoctoral fellowships in Israel through its PMERP program

Procter and Gamble – on its Israeli website announces that the corporation gives
“Generous donations to [Israeli] organizations, “especially for disabled children”
* gives donations of “Tens of thousands of product units,” (i.e. Always and Alldays feminine pads), to various Israeli hospitals and schools; funds the awarding a prize for the best clinical research in the field of dermatology in order “to encourage the level of research and to improve the quality of life in Israel”
* gives donations to the Ramat Gan Safari (a zoo) as a way “to support relationships between children and their parents”
* funds educational projects for teenage girls, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, on the subject of sexual maturity
* cooperates with and donates to the Quality Week of the Israel Technical Institution.

Sara Lee – owns 25 % of Delta Galil, leading textile manufacturer
* its Senior Vice Pres joined DG’s board of directors in 2002
* through Delta Galil, Sara Lee also owns 50% of Arad Towels, official suppliers to the Israeli army
* a corporate partner of the Jewish Federation/Jewish United Fund that contributes directly to expropriating Palestinians and converting their lands into settlements

Unilever – bought 50% of Strauss dairy in 1995, Witco (detergents, Haifa), and
Kedem (Ashdod)

Yoplait – began its relationship with Tnuva in 2001 and found it so successful that it
announced in 2002 plans to expand operations in Israel