Israeli Company Cuts Ties With France’s Orange Amid BDS Row
Image by Getty Images
An Israeli communications company will end its relationship with French telecommunications giant Orange next month, following a BDS controversy.
The severing of 17 years of ties comes eight months after Orange CEO Stephan Richard said at a news conference in Cairo that his company would abandon its Israeli affiliate Partner “tomorrow morning” if not for contractual penalties, raising questions about a company boycott of Israel.
Richard later said that he “sincerely” regretted the “controversy,” and that he was speaking “of a purely business issue.”
He came to Israel a week later to apologize in person to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying: “I regret deeply this controversy and I want to make it totally clear that Orange as a company has never supported and will never support any kind of boycott against Israel.”
French President Francois Hollande also reiterated his strong opposition to anti-Israel boycotts in the wake of the controversy. Orange is 25 percent owned by the French government.
Partner will receive about $100,000 in compensation for Richard’s damaging statements and for agreeing to give up the Orange brand name. Partner said it would now work on rebranding.
Orange and Partner signed an agreement following Richard’s statements to part ways within 24 months. Partner had previously been expected to operate under the Orange name following a new 10-year agreement that was to expire in 2025.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
