LUSH Soap Brand Boycotted for Ties to Pro-Palestinian Group
Those of us who like to like to soften our skin are being asked to toughen our stance against one of the largest purveyors of natural soaps and cosmetics. The pro-Israel organization United With Israel is calling on people to boycott LUSH products in response to the company’s financial support of OneWorld.
OneWorld is the organization that produced the “Freedom for Palestine” music video recently endorsed by the British band Coldplay but then removed it from the band’s Facebook page in response to public outcry against what was said to be the song’s historically revisionist narrative.
According to United With Israel, “It is very clear that they [OneWorld] are supported by extreme anti-Israel groups that are sympathetic to terrorist activity against the State of Israel…Therefore, each purchase of a LUSH product supports extreme anti-Israel activity including boycotts — and perhaps even terrorist activity — against the only democracy in the Middle East.”
In its plea for shoppers to pamper themselves with other companies’ products, United With Israel points out what it perceives as hypocrisy in relation to LUSH’s “ethical campaigns.” The Poole, England-based company donates a percentage of its proceeds to a variety of environmental, animal and human rights organizations, “yet it has stores in Saudi Arabia, a blatant human rights abuser.” LUSH has no stores in Israel, whose human rights record is cleaner than Saudi Arabia’s, the pro-Israel organization noted.
In its campaign against LUSH, which began June 30, United With Israel cites a piece in The Blaze which, in turn, refers to a correspondence thread between a British blogger named Edgar Davidson and LUSH. Davidson wrote that he would no longer patronize the company because of its support of “Hamas-inspired hatred and lies.” Davidson’s June 12 credited the scoop on the story to blogger Daphne Anson, whose headline said it best: “It’s Lush, It’s Green – And It’s Frothing Against Israel.”
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