United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
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Letter Campaign to 14 CEOs for the SodaStream Boycott
Please note: this campaign has ended.
In October 2013, UMKR sent a letter to the CEOs of fourteen businesses with the signatures of the UMKR Steering Committee, asking them to stop selling SodaStream products and explaining why.
After that, we also sent letters to the same CEOs with the signatures of all who signed the letter through early November. We reached 826 signatures on the second letters we sent to the CEOs! Many thanks to all who signed and made this a powerful statement to these companies.
See below the letter that was sent and the names of the CEOs that received it.
This letter campaign was organized by Friends of Sabeel-North America. See more about the SodaStream boycott at http://fosna.org/content/join-fosnas-sodastream-boycott-campaign
The businesses and CEOs that received the letters:
Amazon, Mr. Jeff Bezos
Bed Bath and Beyond, Mr. Steven H. Temares
Best Buy, Mr. Huert Joly
Costco, Mr. Craig Jelinek
Crate & Barrel, Mr. Sascha Bopp
JC Penney, Mr. Michael Ullman
Kohl's, Mr. Kevin Mansell
Macy's, Mr. Terry Lundgren
Sears, Mr. Edward Lampert
Staples, Mr. Ronald L. Sargent
Sur La Table, Mr. Jack Schwefel
Target, Mr. Gregg W. Steinhafel
Walmart, Mr. Michael Duke
Williams-Sonoma, Ms. Laura J. Alber
The letter they received:
Dear [name of company's CEO]:
We endorse the letter that you recently received from Friends of Sabeel—North America, and we join with them in the boycott of SodaStream, whose products are carried by your company, in stores and/or on your website.
Along with our Muslim, Christian, and Jewish brothers and sisters of the Interfaith Boycott Coalition (http://sodastreamboycott.org), we ask you to discontinue your sales of SodaStream products as a way to honor human rights and international law.
SodaStream is made in the industrial zone of the illegal settlement Ma’ale Adumin, yet is labeled “made in Israel.” Such products enrich the settlement enterprise, thereby prolonging the suffering of both Palestinians and Israelis.
We commend both the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church USA for adopting resolutions at their 2012 governing conferences calling for a boycott of products made in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.
We hope you will help our interfaith effort by discontinuing the product and thereby ending your support for the illegal settlement enterprise that obstructs peace for ordinary people, both Palestinian and Israeli, and that works against our own nation’s best interests.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Respectfully,
Boycott SodaStream