Black Friday False Claim "BDS is Working"

On Black Friday, local anti-Israel groups Jewish Voice for Peace and Berkeley Women in Black are organizing a vigil in the San Francisco Union Square Shopping center. Their theme "BDS is working".

Its wishful thinking, on their part.

The Israel economy continues to show exceptional growth.

Israel's Gross National Product

Israels Gross National Income

Tourism to Israel is equally unaffected by the BDS movement

Out of 3.3 million visitors in 2014, 2.5 million arrived by air (78%) About 400,000 came through the land borders (12%)  Tourism from the USA continued to represent the largest country of origin for incoming tourism to Israel, with 626,000 visitors arriving in 2014, (representing 19% of all incoming tourism), 1% more than 2013. In second place is tourism from Russia with 567,000 visitors, a decrease of 6%. Tourism from France takes third place, with about 301,000 visitors, followed by Germany (196,000) and the United Kingdom (179,000).

58% of tourists were first time visitors, and 42% returning visitors.

Since the  Boycott, Divestment and sanctions movement was introduced in Durban in 2001, the Israeli economy has grown dramatically.  Moodys continues to rate Israeli bonds A1.  In spite of  a variety of toothless student resolutions directed against Israel, not a single university has divested a penny from Israel- with many reaffirming and strengthening their relationships instead.

After nearly 15 years of BDS, Israel's reputation as the start-up nation remains unassailable. Senior representatives from leading multinational companies including AVG, Ford, GE, Tyco, GM, ProSieben, Mail.ru, Bloomberg, Yahoo are set to come to Tel Aviv on December 16 for the Axis Tel Aviv Corporate Edition 2015, aimed at connecting companies looking to invest in Israeli Big Data, Cloud, CyberSecurity, ICT, IOT, Mobile, and e-Commerce startups. Israeli startups had their best year ever in 2014, with exit deals totaling $15 billion, a dramatic increase from $7.6 million in 2013.  2014, 18 Israeli companies going public raised nearly $10 billion.

By any objective standards, BDS is a failed enterprise  Any claim by the anti-Israel activists converging in Union Square that "BDS in winning" is just wishful thinking on their part.

When Black Friday Comes: Ignoring the Hate

Black Friday is the next day o'rage for the Bay Area Israel haters, and Soda Stream is the main object of their wrath. Ignoring the chance to be with family and friends, the haters chose to spend their time venting their anger against the only democracy in the Middle East, and specifically against a carbonated beverage maker headquartered  there.

Their schedule follows:

San Francisco  Boycott Soda Stream, Bed Bath & Beyond, Larkspur Landing, 10:00 a.m.
San Francisco  Women in black vigil, Union Square, 12:00 p.m.
San Francisco  Boycott Soda Stream, Macy’s, Union Sq, 1:00 p.m.

San Francisco  Civic Centre (meet at City Hall steps), 2:00 p.m.
San Francisco  Israeli Consulate, 4:00 p.m.

What do you need to know about Sodastream?

 SodaStream has a production facility in "Area C" in the disputed territories, which according to the
Oslo agreements signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority remains under Israeli authority until a
final agreement is signed by both parties.

SodaStream is one of the largest employers of Palestinians in a region with a 20% unemployment rate. (Notice how the Palestinians are not boycotting Sodastream ) SodaStream pays its Palestinian employees wages that are on a par with Israeli ones and are 4-6 times the local wages. SodaStream also provides all their employees with full benefits .. Palestinians and Israelis work for SodaStream side by side.

Sodastream has been hugely successful, despite the deliberate campaign of misinformation surrounding it.

From Bloomberg Reports: June 2011

SodaStream, based in Airport City, Israel surged 6.1 percent to $37.60 by the close in New York, the highest since March 12. The shares have advanced 15 percent in 2012 and trade at 17.9 times estimated earnings.   

The stores can't keep the products in stock.

The number of Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. that are out of stock or have a limited number of the company’s soda makers has grown every week since June 4, according to the e-mailed Moness Crespi report dated today. Inventory of SodaStream products also decreased at Target Corp. and Macy’s Inc. following Father’s Day, the report showed. 

Sodastream is doing well financially,. More and more stores are carrying it- from major retail outlets to boutique gourmet stores. Its' featured predominately in many Christmas catalogs. Its a product that's fun, economical and ecologically sound.   Whats not to love?

The concentrated BDS campaign against Sodastream has accomplished nothing, affecting neither consumer sales nor retail confidence in the product. Nothing. Nada.  Zero. Zilch.  A tactic which has produced nothing in years  but a scattering of youtube moments  is irrelevant  For this reason,   local pro-Israel activists have chosen to ignore the cheap theatrics directed against Sodastream,  We're going to stay home instead, eat leftovers, and enjoy the ones we love. 

For this, we're all thankful.