Forget #Nestle, it Kills #Palestinians

Nestle is the world’s largest food company. Nestle’s main presence in Israel is in Sderot, a settlement founded in 1951 one kilometer from the Gaza Strip which is built on the lands of the Palestinian town Al-Najd, which was ethnically cleansed in 1948.

Nestle began investing in Israel in 1995 by buying 10% of Israeli food maker Osem Investments, increasing its ownership to 50.1% two years later giving it the controlling share and now owns a 53.8 percent stake in Osem. Jointly with Osem, Nestle runs a 700 m2 factory in Sderot. In total, Nestle currently has over 4000 Israeli employees at 11 plants, with the following all in “development zones”:Tzabar Salads (an Osem subsidiary) plant in Kiryat Gat (on the former site of Palestinian village Iraq al-Manshiyya, destroyed by Israelis after 1948); a ready-baked cakes factory in Ahihud; and a logistics center in Nachsholim (Al-Tantura).

The 1700 m2 Nestle Research & Development center in Sderot is considered particularly beneficial to Osem’s growth as it gives [Osem] advantages in technological know-how and increased export opportunities through Nestle’s distribution network. Nestle’s investment in Osem has meant that its products can reach a global market. Of the 23 global development centers Nestle maintains globally, Osem is becoming a global training center for Nestle staff. It is producing a new breakfast cereal with a technology that is registered as a global patent.

To summarise, Nestle builds on stolen Palestinian lands and sells the products of such an apartheid system abroad so that the Israeli economy can flourish.It is no wonder that Nestle received from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1998 the Jubilee Award, “the highest tribute ever awarded by the State of Israel in recognition of those individuals and organizations,that through their investments and trade relationships, have done the most to strengthen the Israeli economy.”

Nestle must close its factories in Israel and sell its shares of Osem until Israel acknowledges the Palestinian right of return and right of nation on all historical Palestine. If Nestle knows that it cannot make enough profit in Israel to cover the costs of business lost in the rest of the world, it will have no choice but to divest from Israel.

Brands under the Nestle company: Nescafé, Perrier, Vittel, Pure Life, Carnation, Libby’s, Milkmaid, Nesquik, Maggi, Buitoni, Crosse & Blackwell, Milkybar, KitKat, Quality Street, Smarties, After Eight, Shreddies cereal, Quality Street, Baci, After Eight, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Lion, Aero, Polo, Frutips, Felix (cat food), L’Oréal