SodaStream, the Israeli manufacturer of home carbonation systems, has changed its product labeling to “Made in the West Bank” following complaints by human rights activists in the Unites States.
The company’s main production facility is in the industrial zone of Ma’aleh Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, where it employs Palestinian workers.
The facility’s location has made SodaStream a target of the global anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and put the company at odds with European policies blocking the import of products made in West Bank settlements.
In May 2014, a coalition of human rights activists in the U.S. state of Oregon complained to the Oregon Department of Justice that the company was violating the state’s Fair Trade Practices Act by labeling its products as “Made in Israel.”
The complaint was forwarded to SodaStream, which replied by saying that the labels would be changed to “Made in the West Bank” with immediate effect. The new labels have now begun appearing on SodaStream boxes in Oregon retail outlets, according to the International Middle East Media Center.
– Read more: SodaStream Changes Labeling to ‘Made in the West Bank’ – Haaretz
