Orange's Plan To Pull Out Of Israel Boosts Boycott Movement, Draws Sharp Netanyahu Rebuke

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

JERUSALEM — French telecom giant Orange SA's declaration that it wants to cut business ties with Israel has given a boost to the burgeoning anti-Israel boycott movement while also drawing a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

The move bodes poorly for Israel at a time of growing international anger over its West Bank settlements and could potentially put almost any Israeli company in the crosshairs of the boycott campaign. It also has illustrated just how deeply intertwined Israeli settlements are with the rest of the country.

Netanyahu responded angrily on Thursday, calling on "the French government to publicly repudiate the miserable statement and miserable action by a company that is under its partial ownership."

The remarks came a day after Orange's chief executive Stephane Richard said he would end his company's relationship with Partner Communications Ltd. "tomorrow" if he could, but that he was bound by a contract for the time being. He cited the company's sensitivity to Arab countries. Partner licenses the Orange brand name in Israel.

Read more: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/b39fa6e613794cc2b04df4157b1c3392/ML--Israel-Boycott

[FlatBaroque]

1. GREAT news. Thank you.

The BDS movement must grow stronger. End Israeli occupation. End Israeli apartheid.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. Keep it up. Deepen the boycott. Add to the pressure for Israel to do the right thing.

[Android3.14]

3. Weeeeelll now, it looks like they finally provoked a reaction

Good for Orange. Let's have other companies do the same.

[RiverNoord]

4. I stopped buying Intel some time ago.

They have a major long-term presence in Israel and a bunch of locations - goes back about 40 years.

It can be difficult to buy only non-Intel electronics, but it's far from impossible.

I don't know what else to do - absolutely nothing good will come of the continuing land theft and, especially, now, the extreme nationalism on the part of the current Israeli government.

It would be awfully helpful if we had the guts to stop vetoing every single UNSC resolution that calls out Israel on its land theft, collectively punitive military strikes, blockading of Palestinian ports, deliberate strangling of the economy in occupied land, etc...

WWII and the Holocaust ended 70 years ago. It was extraordinarily horrible for the European Jewish population, but the fact of it doesn't grant the modern state of Israel a license to brutally oppress a population under its military occupation.

[ChristianGrey]

5. This is excellent

Hopefully others can follow suit.

[Jesus Malverde]

6. FRANCE CRITICIZES GROWING MOVEMENT TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL

France's foreign minister is criticizing any boycott of Israel, amid uproar over French telecom giant Orange's announcement that it wants to cut ties with Israel.

Laurent Fabius said in a statement Friday that it is up to Orange to determine its business strategy, but "France is firmly opposed to a boycott of Israel."

Orange's chief executive Stephane Richard said Wednesday he wants to end his company's relationship with an Israeli partner because of sensitivity to Arab countries.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_FRANCE_ISRAEL_BOYCOTT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-05-07-32-32