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Birnbaum said the naysayers are simply living in the past. "The bottle and can thing will be illegitimate and uncool one day," he said. "It's harmful to people and the environment. It won't be long until soda companies realize this and start offering do-it-yourself solutions of their own. Or they'll be behind." Skepticism and direct competition aren't the only challenges. SodaStream has come under fire by pro-Palestinian groups because of its operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The company's main factory is located in the Jewish settlement of Mishor Adumim. Pro-Palestinian activists who advocate boycotts of goods produced in Jewish settlements have encouraged the public to shun SodaStream. The Palestinians claim the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, as part of a future independent state. Activists claim the company has profited from Israel's occupation of the West Bank. They say Palestinian workers have suffered from low wages and poor working conditions and criticized the company for receiving economic incentives, including tax deductions, from the Israeli government. "The new SodaStream publicity blitz has given the U.S. boycott, divestment, sanctions movement a marvelous opportunity to bring our campaigns targeting settlement products to a new, unprecedented level of visibility and success," said Anna Baltzer, an organizer of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. "It's time to burst SodaStream's bubble. There's nothing environmentally friendly about military occupation," she said. The boycott movement has generally had a minimal impact on Israeli businesses. Aside from political backlash, last month the United Kingdom banned a SodaStream TV advertisement saying it disparaged other soda manufacturers. In the 30-second advertisement, soft drink bottles simultaneously combust as people use the machine at home to happily carbonate their drinks. Birnbaum called the boycotters a "confused bunch." "We don't strengthen or support the occupation. What we're doing is taking a facility in the occupied territory and giving Palestinians a career and economic benefits. I've got to laugh when they think we're on the wrong side of this. We're part of the solution. We build bridges, not walls."
[Associated
Press;
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