Coca-Cola's Role in Israel-Palestine Conflict

The pop of a Coca-Cola can, the fizz while unscrewing a Sprite cap.

Sounds once associated with refreshing beverages now evoke images of oppression,

colonization, and the genocides being actively committed

by Israel, bolstered by

multi-billion dollar corporations such as The Coca-Cola Company.

Refresh the world? More like oppress the world.

I'm now in the north of Gaza Strip, and here a sniper was sitting, sniping

Palestinians, and during his work, he was

enjoying his Coca-Cola. Before enjoying Coca-Cola,

just remember that a sniper

was enjoying his Coca-Cola while sniping, uh, children, uh, old people,

uh, men, women, civilians, destroying our homes and displacing us.

Following the events of October 7th, 2023, pro-Palestine campaigns have intensified

calls to boycott the Coca-Cola Company for enabling Israel's policy of land

theft and its killing of indigenous Palestinians.

But how exactly is Coca-Cola implicated in Israel's crimes?

While the corporation claims it isn't affiliated with politics, the Central

Bottling Company, Coca-Cola's sole Israeli franchise,

operates on stolen

Palestinian land. Independent research center Who Profits

reports that CBC runs

a regional distribution center and cooling facilities in the Atarot

Industrial

Zone, located in illegally occupied East

Jerusalem.

The franchisee is responsible for manufacturing, marketing, selling, and

distributing its Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Fuze Tea, and Kinley soda

products. Any product sold is an investment into Israel's

decades-long regime of

apartheid and human rights abuses.

CBC also profits from selling alcoholic beverages made from grapes grown in

vineyards, located in illegal settlements in

Palestine's Israeli-occupied West Bank

and Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to Who Profits.

East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights

are recognized as illegally

occupied territories under international law, meaning any businesses operating in

these areas are complicit in Israel's crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Israeli soldiers filming themselves committing depraved acts of genocide in

Palestine's Gaza while enjoying a Coca-Cola has further

amplified the global call

to boycott the corporate giant. In 2023, over 100,000 Israeli

soldiers received packages containing Coca-Cola as part of an initiative led by

a

pro-occupation charity based in the occupied Golan Heights.

A 2017 report revealed that two years earlier,

CBC had donated almost

$14,000 to extremist Zionist group Im Tirtzu, known for denying the

Nakba. Despite numerous attempts by the global

brand to disassociate itself from

Israel, many restaurants and markets around the world have dropped

the popular soft

drinks in favor of local genocide-free alternatives that have emerged and gained

popularity since October 7.