Starbucks and Israel

The Starbucks boycott has had an impact on its bottom line and has sent them scurrying for cover…I personally have been boycotting Starbucks since the start of the Intifada due to the comments by its CEO and founder Howard Schultz…

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/11900

More damaging though, are the comments made by Schultz in a speech given to Jewish Americans at a synagogue on Seattle's Capitol Hill in April: "What is going on in the Middle East is not an isolated part of the world. The rise of anti-Semitism is at an all time high since the 1930's" he said, adding that "Palestinians aren't doing their job, they're not stopping terrorism." The hastily retracted comments - which received an ovation from the busy synagogue - have further added to the growing unease amongst concerned corporate watchers who are concerned that Schultz's growing reputation as a mouthpiece for Israeli propaganda could have an adverse effect on Starbucks business. Furthermore, Schultz has championed and funded defense of Israel on US University campuses. He “has been praised by the Israeli Foreign Ministry for allowing American students to hear "Israeli presentations on the Middle East crisis."

Regarding the chain linking (Aish HaTorah-Clarion Fund-producing anti-Islamic film Obsession-Aish HaTorah giving “Zion Award” to Howard Schlutz, Chairmen of Starbucks) here is more info including clips from St. Petersburg Times, Friday, September 26, 2008, by Meg Laughlin Howard Shultz was given "The Israel 50th Anniversary Friend of Zion Tribute Award", by Aish HaTorah in 1998. That information was once displayed on the Starbucks’ website, but later removed after the boycott campaign gained momentum. The original page displaying the award can be seen in an archive link on the website, Boycott Israel Campaign: http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-starbucks.html

The Clarion Fund put out the anti-Islamic film O.bsession, Radical Islam’s War Against the West, which characterized Islam as a terrorist dogma. The Obsession DVD was distributed for free through major newspapers across the United States thanks to the Clarion Fund, originally a project of Aish HaTorah, a staunchly pro-Israel organization which helps send young Jewish Americans to Israel.

Clarion's address, according to Manhattan directory assistance, is the same address as Aish HaTorah International, a fundraising arm of Aish HaTorah. The Clarion Fund and Aish HaTorah International are also connected to a group called HonestReporting, which produced Obsession. Honest-Reporting's 2006 tax return uses the same address.

On the matter of the shared staff between Aish HaTorah and the Clarion Fund, Rabbi Jack Moline was quoted as saying "It is distressing to me that they [Aish HaTorah] would continue to have someone who has promulgated such awful, awful stuff sitting on their board or staff.” In the chain links sited above (Aish HaTorah-Clarion Fund-Obsession Film-Aish HaTorah’s “Zion Award” to Howard Schlutz, Chairmen of Starbucks), should Chairmen Howard Schultz await an award from Dearborn residents next?

BOYCOTT STARBUCKS NOW!

Starbucks boycott in Dearborn is way overdue. Although the evidence of a Zionist-Starbucks link has been deliberately camouflage in recent years by Starbucks’ management, Starbucks’ Chairmen’s history of avid support to Israel accents the need for the boycott today. Chairmen Howard Schultz, the 1998 recipient of Aish HaTorah’s award did not receive such honors for his entrenchment in peace with justice for Palestinians and Israelis. Aish HaTorah, headquartered in the Old City of Jerusalem [internationally recognized as occupied territory], has been awarded 40 percent of the land facing the Western Wall by the government of Israel. Aish HaTorah champions the return of Jewish youth to Israel, thus continues to prop the exclusivist nature of Israel as an apartheid state shutting out Palestinians and depriving them en mass of their right of return to their historic homeland. Such right has been enshrined in international law and United Nations’ resolutions.