On July 11, 2010, members of Adalah-NY, the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, and other members of the New York community participated in a tour of companies profiting from and financially enabling the Israeli occupation and repression of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The stores visited include Aroma, Ricky's, Max Brenner, and Best Buy (Motorola). These stores are targetted as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, a non-violent economic and political tool intended to pressure Israel into ending its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, respecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees, and ensuring equal treatment for its own Palestinian Israeli citizens.
Aroma Cafe is being boycotted because its owner has opened locations in the illegal Israeli settlement Maale Adumim. Maale Adumim is built on lands confiscated from Palestinians, and is part of the expansive settler network that poses an obstacle to a just peace.
Ricky's sells Ahava Beauty products. The Ahava factory is located on an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank called Mitzpe Shalem. In addition, Ahava makes its products using minerals excavated from the Palestinian area of the Dead Sea. See more at http://www.stolenbeauty.org/
Max Brenner is an Israeli chocolate company owned by the Strauss Group, which both publicly and substantively supports the Israeli Army, specifically the notorious Golani Brigade. The Israeli military has been a frequent violator of Palestinian human rights and has been deeply implicated in possible war crimes and crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. The Golani Brigade, which the Strauss Group supports with meals and care packages, is implicated in several flagrant abuses of Palestinian civilians. For example, in 2008, members of the Golani Brigade filmed themselves forcing a captive, blindfolded Palestinian to sing humiliating songs, some of a sexual nature or about the brigade itself.
Lastly, Motorola supplies the Israeli military with parts for bombs, communications infrastructure, and the surveillance system used to monitor Palestinian movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It also provides radar and thermal imaging tools that illegal settlements use to observe Palestinians in the West Bank.
