Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Sodastream
Click on image to go to the poster
Sodastream first set up its factory at Mishor Adumim, one of the more notorious illegal Jewish-only settlements in the Occupied West Bank.
After a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Sodastream the company tried to repair its reputation by shifting into the Negeb Desert (also known as ‘Negev’ or ‘Naqab’) in southern Israel.
Of course, Sodastream denied BDS pressure was the reason for the shift.
“We won't give in to terror. […] The considerations will be purely financial, and do not include the European boycott on manufacturing in the territories …We are not giving in to the boycott. We are Zionist."
CEO Daniel Birnbaum
Different location – same apartheid:
Sodastream’s shift into the Naqab wasn’t a change of spots. The company has taken full advantage of discriminatory labour laws and the institutional apartheid which is the self-declared goal of the Israeli state.
Sodastream continues to abuse Palestinian workers and exploit them as cheap labour. Palestinians are paid less than Jewish Israelis. Sodastream also helps perpetuate permanent de-development among the Palestinian population in the Naqab and forced enclaves.
Sodastream’s Naqab factory is close to Rahat, one designated forced settlement.
When Israel was formed in Palestine in 1948, it expelled between 55,000 and 100,000 Bedouin to Egypt and Jordan. There were only 11,000 left.
During the early 1950’s and until 1966, Israel concentrated the Bedouin people in a closed military zone.
In the 1970’s, Israel was allowing Bedouin to make a claim for their ancestral lands, but the Israeli Supreme Court (al-Uqbi verdict, May 2015) then made it almost impossible for them to prove ownership over lands in the Negev.
https://www.dukium.org/the-arab-bedouin-community-in-the-negev-nagab-a-short-background/
The residents of the unrecognized villages get very little governmental services and in most cases no services at all. In most of the villages there are no schools, kindergartens, or health clinics. There is hardly any infrastructure, including electricity, running water, paved roads, and sewage disposal systems.
Israel has been routinely destroying homes in the unrecognised villages since 1948. The Palestinians keen on rebuilding. The Israelis keep on destroying.
https://www.dukium.org/?page_id=11916
The Israeli aim is to ‘Judaise’ the Negeb and force Palestinians into small enclaves.
In 2013, the Israeli Knesset approved and then forcefully implemented the Prawyer Plan to evict up to 40,000 Bedouins and force them into planned townships such as Rahat.
(https://electronicintifada.net/content/new-sodastream-factory-could-help-destroy-bedouin-agriculture/13182 and https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/11/30/israels-bedouin-eviction-plan-opposed/)
The aim is to “-transform the Bedouin into an urban proletariat … the Bedouin will not live on his land with his herds, but would become an urban person”.
Former Israeli War Minister, General Moshe Dayan
Recognised and unrecognised Villages:
Rahat and planned townships like it have the lowest municipal budget allocations in Israel and suffer from a severe lack of infrastructure.
The planned townships ‘lack basic services such as running water, electricity, paved roads or schools’.
https://adva.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/foodinsecurity-negev-qualitative-en.pdf
Click on image to get Poster
Israeli apartheid
Israel’s founding mission was to exclusively benefit Jews by building a “Jewish state” through settler-colonisation. It is a Jewish democracy, even though most of the people who live within its control are not Jewish.
The three million Palestinians who live in the Occupied West Bank have no vote in the Israeli parliament. The 720,000 illegal Israeli settlers who live among them in the Occupied West Bank do have a vote.
Israel has annexed East Jerusalem, though the world still considers it to be illegally Occupied East Jerusalem. Despite Israel declaring East Jerusalem to be part of Israel, it refuses to give the Palestinians who live there voting rights.
Formal Israeli apartheid is well documented; https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/7771
Apart from the formal discrimination, there are Israeli institutions to preserve Israeli privilege. The Jewish National Fund’s purpose is to keep land under Jewish occupation; https://thej.ca/2025/06/12/jnf-canada-loses-court-appeal-over-charitable-status-whats-next-for-the-iconic-pro-israel-organization/
Here’s an excellent 2022 summary of How Israel Practices Apartheid | IMEU Policy Backgrounder | IMEU
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Palestinians in civil society in 2005 called on the international community for support through the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – BDS – movement, for freedom, justice and equality.
BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.
The signatories represent the three major components of the Palestinian people: the refugees, Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the discriminated Palestinian citizens of the Israeli state.
The first Palestinian BDS Conference was held in Ramallah in November 2007. It appointed the BDS National Committee (BNC). BDS National Committee.
PSNA is the New Zealand representative on the Asia Pacific regional group of the BDS Movement.
The BDS three aims:
The end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian land,
The right of return to their land and homes for Palestinians expelled by Israel
The end of apartheid laws discriminating against Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship
Other BDS Targets besides Sodastream
AHAVA
(“Dead Sea Mineral Skin Care Products”) Ahava manufactures its cosmetics in a factory in the illegal Mitzpe Shalem settlement in the Occupied West Bank.
AHAVA uses Palestinian natural resources without the permission of or compensation to the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israel denies Palestinians access to the shores of the Dead Sea and its resources.
HP (Hewlett-Packard):
HP-branded corporations provide and operate technology that Israel uses to maintain its system of apartheid and occupation of Palestine, genocide in Gaza.
HP is providing services and technology to the Israeli army and police that maintain Israel’s illegal occupation and siege of Gaza,
HP provides Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority with the exclusive itanium servers for its Aviv System to monitor inside Israel and through the OPT.
BP and Caltex:
Both brands extract oil and gas from the Eastern Mediterranean for Israel, yet within Palestine’s maritime boundary.
Stealing from the occupied people of Palestine is a breach of international law.
McDonald’s:
McDonald’s franchises in Israel have been openly supporting the Israeli Defence Force’s genocide in Gaza with free meals for Israeli soldiers.
McDonald’s International have been happy for their brand to be associated with the slaughter of Palestinians.
In response, some franchises in the Islamic world are now flying the Palestinian flag to distance themselves from the Israeli franchise.
Act Now Against These Companies Profiting from the Genocide of the Palestinian People.
BDS has a special meaning for New Zealand
New Zealanders have a proud record of standing up against injustices. We took action in support of South Africans suffering under apartheid and under BDS we can take similar action now to support Palestinians suffering under Israeli apartheid.
Desmond Tutu
Nobel Peace prize winner and South African Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, says international solidarity such as BDS is critical to ending injustices like apartheid.
"I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing in the Holy Land that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under apartheid," says Tutu.
"We could not have achieved our democracy without the help of people around the world, who through... non-violent means, such as boycotts and disinvestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the apartheid regime,"
How to get involved
Download a Boycott app;
Halal Kiwi app https://halalkiwi.com/
BoyCat app https://bdsmovement.net/BDS-Has-Partnered-With-Boycat-App
No Thanks app Google Play Apple
Go through your cupboards and check out for Israeli goods. Make a note to find an alternative next time you go shopping.
You can spot and avoid Israeli products. Just look for the Bar Codes:
Gaza is still the worst atrocity of the 21st Century
Israel’s government ministers have made their war aims clear – use mass bombing and starvation to depopulate as many Palestinians from Gaza as possible, as part of its decade’s long plan for a Greater Israel.
Israel is not defending itself – it is defending and expanding its conquests.
The government of New Zealand still refuses to criticise Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The Sanction List
Foreign Minister Winston Peters needs reminding. He should be imposing full sanctions on Israel and listing support for Palestinian rights;
Support the Greens’ Unlawful Occupation of Palestine Sanctions Bill.
Deny entry to all Israeli Defence Forces personnel and any Israelis who live or work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
End trade and investment ties with Israel.
Suspend all bilateral agreements; movie co-production, overflight agreement and technological cooperation.
Stop remittances going to Israel, such as funds for the Jewish National Fund
Cut scientific, academic, sport and cultural ties with the State of Israel
Reprimand the Israeli ambassador and close the Israeli embassy Sign the petition
Sell all New Zealand’s Superfund investments in Israeli companies
Vote to suspend Israeli membership of the United Nations for not withdrawing from all the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Cease approval for Rakon to export crystal oscillators which may be used by the Israeli military for targeting Gaza and other Israeli assault zones.
Ban all Rocket Lab launches of satellites used for Israeli reconnaissance over Gaza.
Cease approving Israeli munitions transporter ZIM Shipping using our ports
Join the case against Israeli genocide in the International Court of Justice
Sign onto the Hague Group of countries working to ensure Israel complies with International Law https://thehaguegroup.org/home/
Back the call from UN Special Rapporteur for the OPT Francesca Albanese for military protection for UNRWA aid convoys to enter Gaza.
What you can do;
Let MPs, Government and Opposition, know that you want these actual measures from our government which, in concert with other countries, will force Israel to comply with international law. You can ‘ph MPs through parliament’s phone number 0800 7273 6282 or email.
Help grow the movement in dozens of centres throughout Aotearoa to collectively express our outrage in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice. Email: Secretary@PSNA.nz
If you would like to support the campaign for Palestinian freedom donate to:
Acct Name: Palestine Solidarity Network
Acct Number: 38-9015-0849542-00