BDS drives Ahava inside Green Line
Photo tweeted by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), June 8th 2015, with message: ‘Ahava seeks to move production out of West Bank under boycott pressure’. The shop in London which was closed after constant protests.
BREAKING: BDS Victorious as Ahava to Leave Occupied Territory, Move Plant Within Green Line
By Richard Silverstein
March 09, 2016
A battle waged over years by the BDS movement against the Israeli cosmetics company, Ahava, has ended in victory for anti-Occupation activists. After business news sites reported recently that a Chinese company was in talks to buy the company, the company announced today that it would move its plant from Mitzpeh Shalem in the West Bank to Kibbutz Ein Gedi. The Kibbutz is near the original plant, but firmly within the Green line. Construction of Ahava’s new facility will take two years.
Though Yediot Ahronot’s headline falsely portrays the company’s announcement as a concession that it was “vanquished by hate,” this is clearly false. It was without doubt solely a business matter. Likely, the new Chinese corporate owners, who purchased the company last September for $75-million, didn’t want the headache of constant protests around the world and having their name dragged through the “mud.” They would much rather buy a product with tremendous potential and grow the business without distractions. The current Israeli owners would far prefer to cash out on their investment than to uphold the principle that Jews have the right to every inch of the Land of Israel. Money vanquished “principle.” In this case, money was right, principle wrong.
Keep in mind that the $75-million purchase price will be divided amongst the current Israeli owners who are kibbutzim (Kalia, Dead Sea, and Mitzpeh Shalem) sited on Occupied Palestinian land, and the Livnat family. This family is one of the infamous eighteen oligarchal families in Israel who control an enormous amount of the nation’s capital. So the sale itself will benefit those who have profited from the theft of Palestinian land and resources.
Ahava now joins at least three other companies including Sodastream which have moved from locations in the Occupied Territories to within Israel itself. Today’s news comes on the heels of G4S’s annual report which notes that it will exit the Israeli market in the next two years:
Through our continuing portfolio management programme, we also expect to exit a number of other businesses with combined revenues of c.£400 million in the next 12 to 24 months including G4S Israel…
The international firm provides private security services for many Israeli enterprises, prisons and settlements and has been a BDS target for a number of years.
Mazel tov to CodePink for its brilliant Stolen Beauty campaign, and all the other NGOs who worked so hard to achieve this result. Certainly, the struggle is not over. But this is a victory to savor.
By Shai Shalev, Globes
August 06, 2015
Ahava, the Israeli cosmetics company that bases its products on Dead Sea minerals, and is controlled by Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem, is expected to transfer its manufacturing activities away from the kibbutz, which is in the West Bank, sources inform “Globes.” The kibbutz will invest NIS 10 million in the new production plant in the nearby Tamar Regional Council to the south, which is inside the “Green Line.”
Ahava has come under enormous pressure from pro-Palestinian and BDS groups in recent years. Three years ago it was forced to close down a retail outlet in London after it became a focus of demonstrations because its production facility was in land captured by Israel in 1967.
Ahava will not be the first Israeli company to move its production facilities out of the West Bank. Sodastream International Ltd. (Nasdaq: SODA) moved its production facilities from Maaleh Adumim, and Bagel Bagel and Mul-T-Lock moved out of the Barkan Industrial Zone.
Ahava’s factory in Mitzpe Shalem, an Israeli settlement built in the occupied West Bank in violation of international law. Photo by Viktor Karppinen/Flickr
Ahava’s factory on Mizpeh Shalem in the Judean Desert in the Megillot Regional Council is 13 kilometres north of Ein Gedi. The kibbutz was founded by the IDF’s nahal unit in the early 70s through an agreement with the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
In October 2008, Ahava leased 6,000 square meters from the kibbutz for 10 years, with an option for an additional 10 years. The annual rental payment was NIS 530,000. The firm’s offices are in Airport City by Ben Gurion Airport.
In addition to Kibbutz Mitzpeh Shalem, the company’s shareholders include B. Gaon Holdings Ltd. (TASE: GAON), the Livnat family and Shamrock Holdings. In 2014, Ahava had revenue of NIS 183 million. The workforce was cut from 299 in 2013 to 225 at the end of 2014. Sales were hit by fall in tourism due to Operation Protective Edge and the economic crisis in Russia.
Ahava said in response, “Due to expanding production needs and changes in regulations for manufacturing cosmetics products in certain Western countries, Ahava is examining the option of setting up another factory. One of the possibilities is the Tamar Regional Council. Other alternatives are being investigated. No decision has yet been taken to open the additional plant.”
Links
China’s Fosun International completes Ahava acquisition Dead Sea mineral concerns, Cosmetic Designs Asia, October 2015Chinese Billionaire Guo Guangchang’s Fosun Slows Down In Overseas Acquisitions, Forbes, March 8th, 2016