Victory

The BDS Movement—you know, the collection of unhinged leftists (a.k.a. useful idiots) who would prefer the misogynist, homophobic, corrupt, paranoid, dishonest, anti-democratic, hyper-violent, anti-Semitic, anti-Western leadership of the "palestinians" to the democratically elected, liberal democracy called Israel—has accomplished what unhinged leftists often accomplish—misery for the people they purport to champion. Abraham Rabinovich reports:

Jerusalem—The last of 500 West Bank Palestinians who had been employed by the beverage firm SodaStream were let go on Monday as a result of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions [BDS] movement targeting Israeli economic activity in the West Bank.

The firm had relocated its main plant from the West Bank industrial zone of Mishor Adumim last year to the Negev, inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders, after it became the target of a BDS campaign organized by pro-Palestinian groups in Europe and the United States. The campaign also targeted actress Scarlett Johansson, who was publicizing the company. The plant owners argued at the time that BDS was in effect harming the interests of Palestinians by depriving 500 Palestinian workers of their jobs in the West Bank, an area where jobs are difficult to find.

At the time of the October move, the management received permission from Israeli authorities for 74 experienced Palestinian employees to commute to the new plant inside Israel until the end of February. That deadline was today.

SodaStream, which produces a pressurized cylinder to create carbonated drinks, employed 1,300 workers at its West Bank plant. Of these, 350 were Israeli Jews, 450 Israeli Arabs and 500 West Bank Palestinians. The Israeli media reported that pay and benefits were identical for all in comparable jobs.

Palestinian workers leaving the plant in Israel for the last time today were emotional. “We were one family,” Anas Abdul Wadad Ghayth, 25, told Agence France-Presse, as he boarded a bus for the West Bank. “I am sad because I am leaving friends I have worked with for a long time.”

I'm sure that in the fevered minds of BDS adherents, this is viewed as a "victory." After all, delusional thinking is a hallmark of BDS. I can't help but wondering if Anas Abdul Wadad Ghayth would agree that his loss of livelihood is a "victory."