Another blow to SodaStream and to the Israeli occupation. The Harvard University dining services has had enough of the company that does business in the occupation because the machines are offensive to Palestinians and others who care about Palestinians. From the Crimson, reported by Kamara A. Swaby:
Following student group complaints and internal discussions, Harvard University Dining Services has decided to suspend purchases of appliances from a company involved in an international settlement dispute.
Until last April, HUDS had been purchasing water machines from a company recently acquired by SodaStream, an Israeli company that specializes in do-it-yourself soda and water machines. Sodastream’s main factory is located on the West Bank, a settlement at the heart of conflicts between Israel and Palestine regarding land ownership in the area. The company, which announced in October that it will move its factory to southern Israel, has drawn criticism and boycotts for its location in disputed territory.
Last fall, some members of the College Palestine Solidarity Committee and the Harvard Islamic Society noticed that the filtered water machines in certain dining halls had Sodastream labels on them. Citing discomfort with the machines and the potential of the machines to offend those affected by the Israel-Palestine conflict, the students emailed House masters and tutors to arrange a meeting with University officials to have the machines removed.
Rachel J. Sandalow-Ash ’15, a member of the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance who attended some of the subsequent meetings, said that she believed that regardless of the University’s position, the machines and their association with the disputed territory could be offensive to Palestinian students.
“I think it is neither anti-Israel nor anti-Semite to take stand against the occupation,” she said. “These machines can be seen as a microaggression to Palestinian students and their families and like the University doesn’t care about Palestinian human rights.”
On a related note, the writer Rob Buchanan tells me that he “Finally Divested,” appending the image above. He had rationalized the presence of the SodaStream in his Brooklyn kitchen because his wife loved the water and they got the thing years before the controversy bubbled up, but it was the noise that got to him, he says. The machine makes a famous burp as it completes the carbonation process; and Buchanan found that the burp tore at his soul. He’d be having company over when the burp would reach him at the table through the conversation and remind him of Palestinian conditions on the West Bank. Or in his office and he would hear it through the house and — the occupation! If it didn’t make that noise, it might still be in Brooklyn. He made a deal with his wife to keep the stocks of bottled water fresh, and the machine got trashed.
Annie Robbins has charted the SodaStream collapse…
Thanks to Terry Weber.
Soda stream –dead in the water.
“The machine makes a famous burp as it completes the carbonation process; and Buchanan found that the burp tore at his soul.”
The tell-tale two cents plain! Burp-burp, burp-burp, burp-burp….
The cat clearly disapproves. Is it anti-Israeli, or anti-Semitic?
“the machines and their association with the disputed territory could be offensive to Palestinian students.”
This seems like a pretty feeble basis for removing the machines. Tartan shorts and soul patches are offensive to anyone with any aesthetic sense. In a well-run society, they would be banned. I’m pretty sure Harvard permits them.
A better reason for removing the Soda Streams would be that Harvard should not be supporting the settlements and the occupation. Or, indeed, Israel.
>> “I think it is neither anti-Israel nor anti-Semite to take stand against the occupation,” she said.
Opposing occupation is just and moral. Supporting, defending and/or justifying occupation – which is what Zio-supremacists and their supporters do – is unjust and immoral.
>> “These machines can be seen as a microaggression to Palestinian students and their families and like the University doesn’t care about Palestinian human rights.”
“microaggression” – seriously?