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Body Shop & the Arab boycott of
Israel
By Fred Taub
August 13, 2004
Summary: An advocate of boycotts and corporate responsibility is now
feeling the heat for their own actions.
 The Body Shop, a British skin care products retailer with a large
US presence, has been engaged in human and animal activism issues since its
inception. In fact, the company was built on the idea of creating products that
are environmentally friendly and not tested on animals.
The Body Shop
is no stranger to boycotts. Its founder, Anita Roddick, has used boycotts to
promote her political agenda for years. According to The Voice (Issue 4), a
publication of The Body Shop, "60% of shoppers are willing to boycott products
or stores on ethical grounds" and "67% claim to consider a company's ethical
stance when buying a product." Boycott Watch believes these numbers are highly
inflated both because, unlike The Body Shop, the vast majority of businesses
are not created with an underlying political stance; and because most people
are not consumed by a need to discover the political stance of every company
executive of the products they purchase.
Currently, The Body Shop
itself is under intense boycott pressure after an article titled "The End Of
Israel" was published by the
American Thinker
magazineand an email campaign based on the article showing bias against
Israel by The Body Shop soon followed. Boycott Watch researched the article and
found a press release on The Body Shop web site boasting an award the company
gave the National Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally
Displaced, which the American Thinker article is about.
A detailed
self-description of the National Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the
Internally Displaced is available on the "Global IDP Project - Monitoring
Internal Displacement Worldwide" and is linked below. The organization calls
the establishment of Israel 'al-Nakba', or The Disaster, which in Arabic is a
declaration of illegitimacy of the existence of Israel. The document also
mentions the Suhmata play, which is a violent play that teaches Arab children
to hate Jews and to grow up to be the generation to destroy Israel by forcing
the Jews into the sea.
These actions as promoted in the organizations
own introduction and description clearly shows that the organization does not
have peaceful intentions. Rather, the National Committee for the Defense of the
Rights of the Internally Displaced is a hate organization with the aim of the
destruction of Israel and removal of all Jews from the region, even by forced
drowning - a form of murder.
As such, the organization is not seeking
peace with Israel. It is working toward an Arabification of Israel, thus
destroying Israel by creating an Arab majority in the Jewish State. This plan
is in no way conducive to establishing peace with Israel, rather peace without
Israel. The organization never accepted Israel, and as demonstrated by their
choice of words, and is in favor of its destruction.
Furthermore, the
organization works with and claims "250,000 Palestinians currently living in
Israel were displaced during the Israeli-Arab conflict from their homes." The
organization does not, however, work with or even mention the 650,000 Jews who
were displaced from their homes as a result of the Israeli-Arab conflict, nor
does the organization mention that Israel was attacked by all its Arab
neighbors at the moment of its declaration of independence, thus creating the
displaced persons. Since it's creation in 1948, Israel absorbed all displaced
Jews from Arab lands, yet the Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority
maintain the status quo by not absorbing displaced Arabs.
War is not
pretty. The proper humanitarian thing to do after a war is to absorb displaced
people into society. After more than 50 years, one would think that the Arab
world should have been able to absorb all their brethren. As such, one can
conclude that by choosing not to absorb and normalize life of their own people,
Arab governments are using displaced Arabs as a political tool. The Body Shop,
but issuing the award, is perpetuating and encouraging non-absorption of
displaced Arabs by awarding bad behavior, and in fact encouraging continued
displacement. By giving an award to a partisan organization, The Body Shop,
which has stores in Arab countries but none in Israel, is also declaring itself
a political partisan in the Arab-Israeli conflict, which they deny.
Boycott Watch contacted The Body Shop, and in their statement, The Body
Shop confirmed they appointed the jury and paid the prize money, yet distanced
themselves from the cash award they paid. Boycott Watch can not believe any
person or company would give money to a cause they objected to just because
someone said to, unless of course The Body Shop agreed with the findings.
Funding something you do not agree with does not make sense, especially from a
company founded with humanitarian goals. Distancing the company from the award
is also difficult because the company founder and co-founder, Anita Roddick and
Gordon Roddick, are both on the jury granting the award. Additionally, The Body
Shop calls for corporate responsibility globally while at the same time they do
not appear to accept responsibility for their own actions.
Boycott
Watch then contacted The Body Shop with more specific questions and the London
headquarters office replied. We asked: Does the Body Shop advocate the
positions of the award winners and / or the jury? The Body Shop spokesperson
replied: "The Body Shop supports the integrity of the Award jury and the
robustness of the selection process." In other words, The Body Shop stands by
and supports the jury findings, yet they also claim not to have a position on
the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Boycott Watch also requested and received a
profile of the jury members, as linked below. The jury has one Palestinian
activist, but no balance from any Israeli on the other side of the issue.
Regardless of the politics, history and numbers, the underlying facts
as listed in the email related to the boycott call against The Body Shop are
accurate. Boycott Watch therefore confirms the boycott as being based on
accurate information.
Body Shop Official
Statement:
Statement in response to www.americanthinker.com article:
(The Body Shop and the End of Israel )
The Body Shop
does not have a position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The four
winners of the 2002 Human Rights Award, including the National Committee for
the Defence of the Rights of the Internally Displaced, were chosen by an
independent jury, including international human rights experts, for being the
best examples of peaceful grassroots activism on the issue of housing within a
human rights framework, regardless of their religion, ethnicity or nationality.
The Body Shop supports the integrity of the Award jury and the
robustness of the selection process but played no direct role in choosing the
winners themselves, other than providing four of the 14 jury members, of which
the Chair is has always been an independent member. The Body Shop is committed
to the issue of human rights in a number of ways. For example, through The Body
Shop Foundation, the company gives support to a broad range of small grassroots
organisations, which are at the forefront of positive social and environmental
change. This support is given for people of all races, gender, nationality and
ethnic groups, without prejudice, but based on criteria including a project's
demonstration of commitment, vision and sound management.
End of the
Body Shop Official Statement:
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