Boycott, Sanctions and Divestments (BDS) supporters have been celebrating over the past week following an announcement by American food giant General Mills that it had sold its stake in its joint venture in Israel.
The BDS movement hailed the decision as a “decisive step towards ending the company’s complicity in Israeli apartheid and violations of Palestinian human rights.”
A statement posted on the group’s official website asserted that the multinational company had moved “following several years of BDS pressure,” adding: “In 2020, General Mills, parent company of Pillsbury, was named in the UN Human Rights Council’s database of companies complicit in illegal settlement activity, due to the company’s manufacturing of Pillsbury products in the Atarot industrial zone, an illegal Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land.”
Likewise, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) – a Quaker organization that spearheaded the crusade against General Mills – suggested its two-year-long “No Dough for the Occupation” campaign was somehow linked the company’s decision.
Wholly ignored was a statement by General Mills that clarified the decision to close the Pillsbury dough factory had absolutely nothing to do with pressure applied by BDS campaigners.
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Indeed, the multinational company, which makes household brands including Pillsbury, Häagen-Dazs and Yoplait, thoroughly debunked claims that BDS had a hand in prompting the closure of its factory in Israel, describing such allegations as “false.”
“We have made clear the global business strategy that drove this decision. Any claims by others taking credit for this decision are false,” a statement given to Jewish Insider read, adding that “We continue to sell our products in Israel and look forward to continuing to serve Israeli consumers with our other brands.”
An earlier statement pointed out that the company was also planning on selling its European dough business as part of a new strategy.
‘East Jerusalem’: Media Parroting BDS Falsehoods
True to form, the media have taken the BDS baton and run with it. Numerous reports about General Mills’ decision assert that the company’s factory in the Atarot Industrial Zone is located in “East Jerusalem” (see here, here and here).
Aside from the fact that “East Jerusalem” is a misnomer, which falsely suggests the holy city is divided, the factory is not even located in the eastern part of the city – it is actually in northern Jerusalem.
Furthermore, as attorney Stephen M. Flatow noted, the area is an industrial zone and is not a hub of “settlers” as has been suggested in several reports (see here and here), Indeed, the factory closure will disproportionately affect Arab workers:
[Atarot] has become one of Israel’s successful industrial zones and, incidentally, has employed quite a few Palestinian Arabs over the years. In a 2017 study it was estimated that 80% of the employees within the Atarot were Palestinian Arabs.”
And this is but the latest example of media outlets uncritically parroting BDS falsehoods.
Read More: Boycotting Israel – Is it Free Speech?
For example, when sportswear giant Nike announced plans to terminate its business relationship with some Israeli retailers last year, outlets such as The Independent were quick to link the move to BDS.
That Nike had no intention of closing any of its 15 company-owned stores in Israel and encouraged customers in Israel to purchase its products via these outlets mattered not one iota to BDS supporters who declared it a major win for the campaign to turn Israel into a pariah state.
Even more scandalously, BDS advocates, many of whom have openly stated they wish to see the destruction of the Jewish state, gloss over the very real harm the movement has on those it claims to want to protect – Palestinians.
When SodaStream capitulated to BDS calls in 2015 and moved its operations from the West Bank to southern Israel it came at a high price, which was the loss of hundreds of jobs held by Palestinians who had been earning approximately three times the average local salary.
If BDS really cared about Palestinians – and was not primarily driven by an animus toward the Jewish state – why would it be trying to drive out the employers who pay Palestinian wages?
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