11 Reasons To Love — or Hate — SodaStream

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Elisheva Goldberg January 18, 2014

REASONS TO LOVE:

1 — It’s delicious. What Jew doesn’t like seltzer?

2 — It’s eco-friendly, saving massive amounts of otherwise virtually indestructible plastic waste.

3 — It could feasibly pay for itself.

4 — According to MSNBC, it’s the largest job provider for local Palestinian workers.

5 — It comes in invigorating Energy Drink, tipsy Happy Hour Cocktail and relaxing Diet Tea flavors.

REASONS TO HATE:

6 — SodaStream’s factory is located in the settlement Mishor Adumim, in a strategic bloc of settlements that — if completed — would make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.

7 — It has fraudulently used the “made in Israel” label on its products when, in fact, they were made in the occupied Palestinian territories.

8 — It is also arguable that it doesn’t pay for itself unless you “regularly buy name brand can soda and pay full cost for it.”

9 — According to WhoProfits, it was guilty of worker exploitation until the workers’ rights organization Kav LaOved got involved. It also takes advantage of Israeli policies that make it cheaper for it to be across the Green Line, in occupied Palestinian territory.

10 — SodaStream is located in Area C of the West Bank, which is under complete civil and military control of the IDF. That means Palestinian entrepreneurs, business owners, and industries face significant barriers that force them to turn to the settlements for employment.

11 — It also comes in Kool-Aid. And they want you to drink it.

Elisheva Goldberg is a freelance writer living in New York. She was formerly an editor and analyst at Molad: The Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, and an assistant editor at Open Zion, a Daily Beast blog edited by Peter Beinart.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Discover more perspectives in Opinion. To contact Opinion authors, email [email protected].

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