Code Pink Lies: Chapter 2 in the Bamba Wars

Code Pink activists have proudly proclaimed that their "How dare Americans enjoy peanutty goodness"  petition to Trader Joes has nearly 20,000 signatures. 

What they don't mention is that the petition is rigged, so that one person can sign multiple times.  There is no email verification and no screening.   Its so janky, even a bot could do it.

That goes a long way explaining some of the *unusual* names on the petition.

In the meantime, shoppers report their stores have sold out of Israeli products across the county.  Across social media, they are proudly photographing the contents of their shopping carts and their receipts.

Some sadly could only photograph the empty shelves, after the products sold out. 

No doubt Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin are anxiously sipping their low fat soy lattes , plotting on how to turn this into a "win".

Let us know, girls.

Read more about the phenomenal success of the Trader Joes buy-cott

Buying blue-and-white at Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s Faces Anti-Israel Boycott Push As Supporters Launch Buy-In Campaign

Action Alert: Please Fight Boycott of Israeli Products at Trader Joe’s, Organized by the Extremist Jew-Hating Racists at CODEPINK

Israeli Couscous: I Have Learned Something New

Israeli couscous from Trader Joe's holds a special place in the hearts of the Bay Area's local pro-Israel activists. TJ's, bless them, have gone on stocking Israeli products in the face of considerable pressure from the BDS crowd to get them to stop. They have all kinds of lovely Israeli products. My own personal favorite is the Dorot frozen garlic cubes, but I am aware that many of my friends at one time bought a lifetime supply of Israeli coucous from Trader Joe's, to the extent that local activists were trading Israeli couscous recipes for months, desperate to use it all up.

I confess: I never bought any. The garlic cubes, yes, and matzo in season, but not the product I thought of as the 'fake couscous'. When I first became aware of this stuff, I had no idea what I was looking at. Couscous, to me, means, well, actual couscous, and in my childhood was usually eaten in the form of tabouli. It was also generally cooked and served by Israelis, adding to my bafflement--surely Israeli couscous is no different from normal couscous, I thought, puzzled. This odd stuff from TJ's, made up of little pasta balls like tiny ball bearings was a new substance altogether, and confused me. What made it Israeli? Why wasn't it actually couscous? What the heck was this?

I've learned a little more about it though, now, and I'm fascinated enough to be planning the purchase of a few boxes. It turns out that this peculiar carbohydrate is unique to Israel, and is actually a piece of Jewish history.

Let me take you back to the 1950s, when the newborn State of Israel is struggling to survive, and to feed its exploding population. Food is rationed. Immigrants and refugees from the Arab world are flooding into their ancient homeland and new haven. Rice is a staple food for these new Israelis, but it's not readily available because of the limited food supply and lack of imports.

David Ben Gurion to the rescue! Approaching the Osem company (yes, that same Osem whose tahini and matzo ball mix you still buy today), he asks them to come up with a rice substitute that can be produced in Israel. The result, called in Hebrew 'ptitim', is a baked wheat product, shaped like grains of rice, which can be boiled like pasta and served hot or cold. Dubbed "Ben Gurion's rice", it made its way into Israeli culinary history. The round balls of 'couscous' shortly followed.

Israeli couscous is currently very chic with foodies, to the amusement of Israelis, who seem to think of it as kid food. I am fascinated by its legacy. If matzo is the bread of affliction, this is the rice-substitute of the Ingathering, a tribute to Israeli ingenuity and determination to survive and thrive. I plan to learn to cook with it, and to give it a place in my kitchen, this most Zionist of foodstuffs.

Some reading:

http://www.haaretz.com/ben-gurion-s-rice-1.245490

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptitim

Why you should shop at Cliff’s Variety in San Francisco

In the summer of 2009, a small group of anti-Israel activists took it upon themselves to vandalize Israeli products at Trader Joes.

Trader Joes made it perfectly clear what they thought this, and highlighted their Israeli products with special promotions and displays.

Consumers throughout the nation fought back- and a successful "buycott" campaign was launched. There was no Israeli couscous to be found for love or money in any Trader Joes across America. The stores sold out.

The BDS holes slunk away, tails between their legs, and Trader Joes fell off the boycott list. Never to be mentioned again. Yep. BDS fail.

The lesson for the rest of us?

When we fight back we win.

Fast foward 3 years. The latest object d'ire of the BDS holes is now Sodastream- a phenomenally successful home carbonation machine. Green. Economical. Fun. Its available all over- from Walmart to Sur la Table- from the big box stores like Costco to venerable Mom and Pop businesses like Cliff's Variety in San Francisco Whats not to love?

To the BDS ers- only one thing matters. Sodastream is an Israeli company.

From Jon at Divest This:

Why you should shop at Cliff’s Variety

Well I was hoping to post some of my own BDS Christmas carols to give our tone deaf (in every meaning of the phrase) friends in BDSland something to work with other than their own contrived and butchered rhymes.

Unfortunately, everything I came up with was sung to the tune of a Gilbert and Sullivan number (no doubt an artifact of a childhood reading Mad Magazine “Sung to the Tune of…” features). So my long-delayed BDS musical will have to wait until better inspiration strikes.

Especially since the best piece of inspiration I’ve received this holiday season comes from this little shop that could, not in Bethlehem, but San Francisco:





Two things I found inspirational from this episode of the type of BDS Christmas abuse mentioned previously include:

◦For those who occasionally feel overwhelmed by perpetual propaganda attacks on Israel, check out the video to see the true face of BDS at one of its Ground Zero locations (San Francisco), a face both pinched and self-righteous, with a fat mouth singing incomprehensible lyrics out of tune. If that is what we are fighting (which we are, at least on the domestic front), is it any wonder that we’re winning?

◦And check out the guys and gals who work in a variety store to make their daily bread (vs. the BDSers who seem to enjoy a lifestyle that gives them plenty of time to abuse Cliff’s shoppers during the holiday season). As far as I can tell, the guys who introduced the BDS Bozos to the pavement outside their store were not motivated by Zionist affiliation. Rather, they were simply insisting that they were not going to serve as props (or, in this case, have their store serve as a set) for someone else’s demented morality play....

What can we do to help?  First of all, visit Cliff's Variety at  479 Castro Street San Francisco.

If you own a Sodastream, consider buying your flavorings and refill equipment there.  Even if you dont, Cliff's is a beloved  neighborhood institution- its a great place for housewares, hardware, art supplies. Visit Cliff's- show them some love, and thank them for not giving in to bullies.