Super Bowl Ad Nixed, But For Wrong Reasons


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SodaStream manufactures devices to make carbonated beverages at home and the company intended to run an ad for their contraption during the Super Bowl. But apparently CBS turned them down because Coke-a-Cola and Pepsi objected to the competition.

(Update: A Sodastream ad did air during the game)

But SodaStream is not only a threat to Big Cola, it’s also made by an Israeli company in Mishor Adumim, part of an Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank. The international community (except perhaps the U.S. and Israel) recognizes these settlements as illegal.

Companies that operate in the settlements exploit Palestinian land, resources and labor.  They enjoy government support including tax incentives and lenient enforcement of regulations, while the taxes and profits go to support the Israeli economy.

You can learn more here.

American organizations asking people to boycott their products include Jewish Voice for Peace, United Methodist Kairos Response, CodePink, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and many others.

Obama’s Circumstantial Compassion For Victims


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After the horrific Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, President Obama could not hold back his tears.  He went to Newtown to comfort families of the victims.  And at a memorial service he solemnly read off the names of the 20 children and six teachers who were killed.

But he has never read off the names of Wajid, Ayeesha, Naila or any of  the hundreds of other innocent children killed or horribly maimed by U.S. drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia,….  Is that because those children are Arabs?  Or is it because the news media does not show us the grieving parents or the terrorized surviving children?  Or is it because Obama himself ordered the strikes? 

I assume Obama only intended to kill “suspected militants,” and the children were just “collateral damage.”  But if that’s the case wouldn’t you think Mr. Obama would at least apologize and offer condolences to the children’s parents?  Wouldn’t he comfort the father who has picked up pieces of his daughter’s body for burial?   Wouldn’t he say something to the mother whose blinded son will no longer be able to live his dreams? 

On Jan 14, Mr.  Obama declared “If there is a step we can take that will save even one child from what happened in Newtown, we should take that step.”  Of course there is a step he could take to save not one but hundreds of children.  He would not need congressional approval to stop drone strikes since he never got approval to begin them.

A Palestinian in the Knesset


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Haneen Zoabi is a Palestinian who was elected to the Israeli Knesset in 2009. Israel often reminds us of the rights it grants to “Arab Israelis,” avoiding the word “Palestinian.”

In 2010 Ms. Zoabi was on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in the international flotilla carrying humanitarian supplies for Gaza. She witnessed the assault on that ship (in international waters) by Israeli commandos. And she was there when those Israeli pirates boarded the ship and killed nine unarmed civilians including an American citizen.

On her return, when Ms. Zoabi rose to tell of this in the Knesset, some members shouted out calling her a “terrorist” or a “traitor.” Others supported her right to speak. Ms. Zoabi also received hundreds of threatening letters and phone calls including death threats.

Here’s a fascinating view inside the parliament of “the only democracy in the Middle East.”