Saturday, January 15, 2011

Both Sides Claim Victory in Ahava Contretemps--For Now

The BDS beeyotches respond to The Bay's clarification re its removal of Ahava products:
Victory for Human Rights Boycott Campaign

Yesterday, in open recognition of declining sales and the toxicity of the brand, the CEO of giant Canadian retailer The Bay, together with the heads of Canada's main pro-Israel lobby groups, let slip that Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, an Israeli cosmetics manufacturer based in an illegal settlement in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank, is pulling its products off the shelf, curtailing international distribution of its signature line and attempting to rebrand its now tarnished image.

This victory for the Stolen Beauty Ahava boycott was made possible by the extraordinary efforts of grassroots human rights campaigners from North America, The United Kingdom, France, The Czech Republic, South Africa, Israel, and Palestine, among others countries, to hold Ahava accountable for its violations of international law and its unconscionable occupation profiteering.

But even with this acknowledgement of the success of our campaign, now is not the time to let up the pressure. In the same statement announcing its rationale for dropping Ahava from its inventory, The Bay announced that Ahava would be back with a new, re-branded product line in the spring. This attempt to fool international consumers with a repackaged brand will not go unchallenged, and our campaign will continue...
Now, to be fair, nowhere in its communique does the Bay mention "toxicity" or "illegal settlements in Occupied Palestine"; those words have tumbled out of the Zion-loathers' toxic minds.  However, The Bay's timing (the same week that, due to BDS pressure, Ahava was kicked off a U.K. retailer's shelves) seems, at best, really crappy and, at worst, really fishy.

So despite the fact that the Jewish community is apparently satisfied by The Bay's explanation, one wonders if company is trying to do the impossible: placate both sides in the battle.

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