Love Israel. Oppose BDS. Reject SodaStream.

As counterintuitive as it may be, when you see Scarlett Johansson’s Super Bowl ad on Sunday, promoting a product that lets you make carbonated drinks at home, try to see through bubbles and think about the future of the Middle East.
There is nothing wrong with the product itself. Under normal circumstances, I would buy SodaStream and recommend it to my friends. But the circumstances under which the product is made are not normal. And because Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is such an anomaly, as much as I may like Scarlett (and seltzer), I will not buy SodaStream, not until it moves its headquarters away from a West Bank settlement.
But before I discuss bubbles, a few words of clarification are in order. My organization is staunchly pro-Israel. Americans for Peace Now, the sister organization of Israel’s peace movement, is a Zionist organization, proudly committed to Israel’s security and wellbeing. I love Israel and I’m worried sick about its future as a democracy and a Jewish state.
It is because of my love for Israel that I don’t buy products made by companies that are located in West Bank settlements, and that I urge the millions watching the Super Bowl on Sunday to look beyond the luminous actress and the fizz — and to consider the future of Israel and the Middle East.
I strongly oppose boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. I actually encourage everyone to buy products made in Israel. The problem, however, is that products like SodaStream don’t come from Israel but from territory occupied by Israel, territory that is to become a part of the future Palestinian state or to be swapped as a part of a two-state deal between Israel and Palestine. In fact, when SodaStream moves to Israel, which it claims it will do, I will encourage anyone to buy lots of bubbly water.
Israeli businesses that set up shop in West Bank settlements help perpetuate the occupation and make a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict less attainable. And if there is no two-state solution, Israel is bound to gradually become a bi-national state, one that cannot be both a Jewish state and a democracy, destined to be a state plagued by internal Arab-Jewish conflict and violence.
SodaStream is not the only one. There are many Israeli businesspeople who chose the occupied West Bank over Israel for their headquarters. Just like most of the Israelis who decide to settle in the West Bank, Israeli businesspeople chose the settlements because they received generous government incentives and subsidies, tax breaks, cheap land for construction, and cheap Palestinian labor.
Thankfully, most Israeli businesspeople resist the temptation. Last week, a group of over 100 top Israeli businesspeople organized to tell President Peres and Prime Minister Netanyahu, as they left for the World Economic Forum in Davos, that the occupation is increasingly damaging Israel’s economy and trade. “We know that if Israel wants a stable economy and to enjoy a better future and continued growth, we must reach a diplomatic settlement. The world is losing patience and the threat of sanctions is growing daily,” said a statement signed by the businesspeople, some of Israel’s leading entrepreneurs and industrialists.
They are right. Israel’s future does depend on rolling back the 47-year occupation of the West Bank — politically, militarily, demographically, and, yes, also economically.
So, if you care about Israel, try to see through the stardust and the fizz when Scarlett Johansson appears on your screen on Sunday. Think about the things that each of us can do to help bring peace to Israel and her neighbors. Think about the choices you can make to help roll back the occupation.
Debra DeLee is the President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.