The groups who boycotted Scarlett Johansson’s Women’s March speech in Los Angeles due to her position as spokesperson for SodaStream, an Israeli company that employs both Jews and Arabs, was both “clarifying & contemptible,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League said on Twitter Sunday.
It's clarifying & contemptible that some boycotted LA @WomensMarch because of Scarlett Johansson's presence based on her proud Zionism & previous support for @SodaStream, a company that employed Jews & Arabs. https://t.co/pkGYE3kd5A
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 21, 2018
Greenblatt was reacting to news, reported Saturday, that a Palestinian group, Palestinian American Women’s Assn. (PAWA), was withdrawing from the march due to Johansson’s participation.
“The Women’s March mission says we believe that women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights,” Sana Ibrahim, a past president of PAWA, said. “Apparently that does not extend to Palestinian human rights, during the WMLA.”
The racist witch hunt known as #BDS found its latest target: Scarlett Johansson.
Among the groups who boycotted the Women's March due to the inclusion of the American Jewish actress were @jvplive and @codepink https://t.co/ICjEKenN3x
— Adam Levick (@adamlevick) January 22, 2018
Ibrahim’s sentiment echoes that of Linda Sarsour, one of the organizers of the Women’s March movement. Sarsour has said that Zionism and feminism are not compatible.
Julie Lenarz, a senior fellow at The Israel Project, rejected Sarsour’s formulation, observing, “Both movements represent groups that, throughout history, faced deep-rooted discrimination and profound hostility, simply for seeking equality among nations and people.” She added that “The modern Jewish state is a place where Zionism and feminism thrive side by side.”
In 2014, Johansson was appointed global ambassador to SodaSteam. This led to her severing her connections with the controversial charity Oxfam. Johansson stood up to pressure urging her to disassociate herself from the company and wrote that SodaStream, was not just “committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights.”
[Photo: Wochit Entertainment / YouTube]