Danby slam Oxfam over ScarJo
PARLIAMENTARY Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition Michael Danby has taken Oxfam to task after the international aid organisation censured Jewish actress Scarlett Johansson for her endorsement of Israeli company SodaStream.
Following an announcement that Johansson, who was also a global ambassador for Oxfam. would become the face of SodaStream last month, the charity attacked the Israeli company, which has a plant in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, saying it was contributing to the “ongoing poverty and denial of rights of” Palestinians.
Johansson defended her role with the company in an article on Huffington Post, prompting Oxfam to announce it was “considering the implications of her new statement and what it means for Ms Johansson’s role as an Oxfam global ambassador”.
The actress subsequently announced she was quitting as an Oxfam ambassador, stating she and the humanitarian organisation have “a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement”.
Danby said Oxfam had turned on Johansson, who has long endorsed the organisation, because of its “fawning fear” of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The federal member for Melbourne Ports slated Oxfam’s “patronising and provincial opposition to the State of Israel”, adding that the aid agency was being pressured by the BDS movement which sought “the elimination of Israel as a state entirely”.
“Their history of prejudging issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at odds with their claims to support a negotiated two-state solution; at the very time the two sides are negotiating,” Danby said.
Danby said there was “no rational explanation” for Oxfam’s decision to denigrate one of its own, adding the organisation was “undoubtedly being pressured by the extremist BDS movement run by Omar Barghouti.
“The BDS and Barghouti are not seeking to modify individual Israeli policies but see the elimination of Israel as a state entirely.”
In an article titled “Clearing the air”, Johansson wrote that she was “a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine.”
“SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbours working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights,” the Match Point star continued.
Johansson has also come under fire from the BDS movement as well as the Palestinian National Initiative political group, which urged Oxfam to dump the 29-year-old from its campaigns.
ADAM KAMIEN
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