Israel Matzav

Swedes cave to 'international pressure,' fire 'Palestinians'

Just a reminder that I am in Boston and not in Israel, so while it's still before the Sabbath in Israel now, if you see things going up today after the Sabbath starts in Israel, it's because it hasn't started in Boston yet.

The Swedish company Assa Abloy, which acquired the Israeli Mul-T-Lock company in 2000, has caved into 'international pressure' from the Jewish kapos of Gush Shalom, the Church of Sweden and two Swedish aid groups, and has agreed to move Mul-T-Lock's manufacturing operations out of the Barkan Industrial Park. The Barkan Industrial Park is located in Ariel, which is 10-kilometers over the 'green line' in Samaria. As a result of this move, all of the plant's 'Palestinian' workers will lose their jobs, since none of them have permits to work within 'Israel proper.' Makes sense, doesn't it?

"We're leaving because [the industrial park] is in the West Bank," Ann Holmberg, spokeswoman for the Assa Abloy company, told The Jerusalem Post by phone from Sweden on Thursday.

...

The company, Holmberg said, was remiss in not understanding the significance of the location until last month, when the point was hammered home by a report issued jointly by the Church of Sweden, aid group Diakonia, and SwedWatch, a nonprofit group that monitors the conduct of Swedish businesses.

The report, Holmberg said, accused the company of acting in an "unethical" manner and of "violating international law" by having a subsidiary in the West Bank.

The report itself listed a number of international laws it believed the company had broken.

It stated that "businessmen and -women may either be found directly liable for the commission of crimes against international law, or they may be found to have assisted others in the commission of a crime."

A contrite Holmberg said, "We are very sorry that we did not notice it before, but we did not understand that we might be violating international law."

In a statement Tuesday, the company said, "Assa Abloy can only in this context regret that the inappropriateness has not been noted internally, during the eight years of ownership, of having a production unit on the West Bank."

Representatives of Diakonia in Israel did not want to comment on the issue. But Adam Keller of the Israeli left-wing group Gush Shalom said he believed other companies in Barkan were considering leaving. International pressure makes it hard for these companies to conduct business outside of Israel, he said.

The factory employs 100 people, many of whom are presumably 'Palestinians.' Of the 6000 people employed by 120 companies in the industrial park, 3500 of them are 'Palestinians.' The park is not particularly upset by the move since they have a waiting list of 30 companies who are waiting for space in the park. But Ariel mayor Ron Nachman slammed the Swedes for their rank hypocrisy in suddenly being concerned about 'human rights.'

Ariel Mayor Ran Nachman, who created the park 27 years ago, said it was outrageous that a company, particularly a European-based one, was leaving for political reasons.

When the Nazis herded Jews into the gas chambers, Nachman said, "Sweden was neutral and did nothing. Sixty-five years later, nothing has changed. It is the same Europe and the same anti-Semitism."

The Israeli left-wing groups that work with them, such as Gush Shalom, are even worse, Nachman said, adding that if one goes back to ancient times, the Bible doesn't speak of Palestinians, but it does state that this is the "promised land of the Jewish people."

He declared that when "Gush Shalom dies and disappears," the Barkan Park will still be here.

Let's hear it for peaceful coexistence!

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:53 PM