Why are right-wing Israelis pouring Coca-Cola down the toilet?

A Coca-Cola delivery truck in the Tiberias business district In Israel. Photo by iStock

This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.

Israelis are threatening to boycott Coca-Cola Israel after the company’s CEO came out against the government’s legislation to overhaul the judicial system.

CEO Nir Levinger posted a picture of an Israeli flag and a t-shirt with the words “democracy or rebellion” ahead of the weekly rally against the judicial overhaul on Saturday evening, which was first shared by Yinon Magal, the presenter of Channel 14’s popular right-wing panel show The Patriots.

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Magal also reported that Coca-Cola Israel had pulled its advertisements on the pro-Netanyahu channel, ending his tweet with an unusual clarion call for a journalist: “I am no longer drinking Cola. In any case, it’s bad for your health and carcinogenic.”

Haaretz’ business paper TheMarker confirmed that the channel withdrew its advertisements on Channel 14, which were limited in comparison to the company’s investments in advertising on other TV stations. However, Coca-Cola refused to answer TheMarker’s questions regarding the reason or date for the decision.

Since the story broke, Moshe Gafni, a veteran politician for United Torah Judaism and the chairman of the Knesset’s Finance Committee, said that the Haredi community are not “suckers” and that he has “informed his wife not to buy Coca-Cola” or any other drinks that the multinational brand owns, which include Fanta or Sprite.

Several online activists uploaded videos of themselves pouring bottles of Coca-Cola down the plughole of the sink, and even down the toilet, while Magal shared a statement on Twitter from one of the biggest producers in the ultra-Orthodox community stating that he had halted orders from the fizzy drinks giant until further notice.

This is not the first time Magal and other Channel 14 anchors have called for boycotts on companies that don’t buy advertisement air time on the channel. The presenters tend to go on rants on social media, labeling these companies as “leftist.” Even Jerusalem’s religious right-wing mayor, Moshe Lion, was called a leftist by them because the city of Jerusalem hasn’t advertised on the channel.

Coca-Cola in Israel has been accused of receiving favorable coverage from Channel 12 News. In 2021, for example, media monitoring group The Seventh Eye reported that the station had strongly come out against the tax on sweetened drinks. Both the drinks company and the media group Keshet, which operates Channel 12, are owned by the Wertheim family.

Israel’s protest movement has threatened additional midweek demonstrations, as the government is preparing to push forward with a first of three votes on key legislation on Monday to scrap the so-called “reasonableness standard.” The law would prevent the High Court of Justice from blocking any decision by elected officials that it deems unreasonable.

Yasmin Guetta and Jonathan Shamir contributed to this story.

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