‘Boycott Israel’ (BDS) protest shuts down Israeli cosmetics stall in Brisbane

Brisbane anti apartheid activists closed down the Seacret Cosmetic stall in Garden City in suburban Brisbane as part of the global BDS movement to Boycott Israeli goods

Brisbane BDS Action 2 October 2010

What kind of business is Seacret’s

It may be that Palestinians work in Seacret’s factory on the West Bank.

Before the Gaza war there was 16.3% Palestinian unemployment in the West Bank and 41.3% in Gaza.

The Israeli unemployment rate was 6.1% (which included Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who have the highest unemployment rates among Israelis.) Palestinians line up at 3:00am every morning hoping to secure a day’s employment in Israeli factories or in Jewish settlement construction sites in order to earn a few dollars for urgent needs for their families that the approx $2 of goods per day provided by the UNRWA for Palestinian refugees will not provide for.

Approximately 30% (754,263 people in June 2008 according to UNWRA statistics) of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank are refugees or descendants of refugees from villages and towns located in what became Israel during the 1948 war, and a majority still live in towns surrounding the West Bank major cities that are a permanent development of the UNWRA refugee camps. (Of course the figures are much higher in Gaza.)

Exploitation of Palestinian workers

In October 2007, around 23,000 Palestinians in the West Bank worked in Israel every day with another 9,200 working in Israeli settlements. In addition, around 10,000 Palestinian traders from the West Bank are allowed to travel every day into Israel. Figures today are uncertain but the number of Palestinians working in Israel would have decreased while the number working in Israeli factories on the West Bank and in Jewish settlement construction work would have increased. Palestinians have stark choices to make! While some Palestinian villages are in conflict with their Jewish settler neighbours, there are others that have formed economic relationships.

Not a lot is known about how these Israeli businesses work. Are they franchises? In the webpage cited below distributorships are available but that does not necessarily means a franchise. People you meet at their stands are recruited with a package of overseas employment following their army service. They probably receive some training in how to present Israel to the West, not only the products themselves but also general PR.

World Wide PR machine

In Japan Israelis sell art works at the railway stations and a lot of the Israeli secret agents picked up in the US following the 2001 September event were art-students or sellers of art works. The art works selling in Japan were kitch Mickey Mouse stuff that Japanese men would be hard-sold into buying when returning home drunk after a night out! Can’t imagine anyone displaying them except in a children’s room. They probably went straight into a rubbish bin.

Part of  the Military industrial complex

It is probably a package of overseas employment following their army service (or an interval between stints of army service). The Israeli businesses on the West Bank may have connections with Israeli military officers who receive business positions as rewards for their military service. But who owns the distributorship (or franchise) at Myers, or whether it is organised with Australian companies through the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce is unknown.

Stephen Lendman writes

…most Israeli leaders are former high-ranking IDF officers, politics and the military being inextricably connected. — At http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=623228

The same goes for business and the military being closely connected too with directorships of multinational Israeli-controlled companies like Elbit e.g. Elbit-Plaza Property, Elbit Medical Imaging or Elbit Defence Electronic Systems, etc.

In March 2010, Elbit Systems Ltd. announced a major contract win under Australia’s LAND 75 Phase 3.4 (Battle Management System) and LAND 125 Soldier Combat System Phase 3 programs, following a 2007 tender. The A$ 331 (about $298 million) contract will see Elbit supply, integrate, install and support of a Battle Group and Below Command, Control and Communications (BGC3) system for the Australian Army over the next 3 years.— See www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Australia-Turns-to-Elbit-for-its-Battle-Management-System-06247/

Only high-ranking officers with extensive experience in the occupied territories would obtain directorship of such big companies but there are many small overseas Israeli businesses, especially in the jewelery and cosmetics field where smaller fish can be rewarded for their efforts in military service.

A Settler State

Africa Israel Investments (Afigroup) and most Israeli banks give mortgages to settlers and also have international business investments. Over 40 Israeli and international companies are involved in solidifying Israel’s occupation apart from the IDF, according to data from the “Who Profits” project, run by the Coalition of Women for Peace.

AFIGROUP is an international holding and investments group. Highly experienced and active worldwide, the Group has extensive interests in the fields of real estate, construction & infrastructure, energy, and other related industries. Headquartered in Israel, under the leadership of its chairman and controlling shareholder Mr. Lev Leviev, AFIGROUP comprises 13 companies traded publicly on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and other global stock markets: AFI Development Plc (Russia), AFI USA , AFI Industries (formerly Packer Plada) Israels largest steel company and Negev Ceramics, the countrys leading company in design and manufacture of building and interior design ceramic products, AFI Europe, Africa Israel Residences Ltd (operating in Israel under the Savionim brand name), Africa Israel Properties Ltd, Danya Cebus Construction and infrastructures, Alon Group Energy (and food retail) consisting of Dor Alon Oil and Alon USA Energy, Inc and more than 170 7-Eleven convenience stores throughout the USA, and Super Alonit convenience stores in Israel, and Blue Square, Israels second largest supermarket chain.

Africa Israel Hotels holds the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn franchise in Israel, operates 10 hotels in Israel (2,250 rooms) a Spa Hotel in Kislovodsk, Russia (400 rooms), a hotel in Germany and 3 hotels in Bucharest, Romania and is expanding its operations in Europe. It also holds and operates an amusement park in Eilat, Israel. The companys fashion Brands include Gottex, Gideon Oberson, Christina (Canada) and other beachwear international brands, and theZara and Pull & Bear franchises in Israel. AFIGROUP has a controlling stake in Tadiran Telecom which develops telecom solutions and in Channel 9 (Israel), a TV station serving Russian speakers.

Besides the Dead Sea Skin Care and Spa Products, Seacrets run the Ocean City Maryland vacation resort spot with nightclub and beachclub in the USA. At Ocean City’s Jamaica USA (Maryland) resort area you can find Seacrets Bars, Restaurants and Nightlife Clubs.

At http://www.seacretspa.com.au/business-opp/index.html :

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Seacret is getting out there.

Join our team.

If you would like to become a distributor of the Seacret brand, we welcome your inquiry. Spas, salons and hotels are especially well positioned to participate in Seacrets success. There are six important benefits that set Seacret (and those who sell Seacret) apart from the competition:

Superior product quality. The brand uses, in addition to genuine Dead Sea minerals, only the purest high-quality ingredients including Tea Tree, Aloe Vera extracts, and healthful vitamins.

Results your customers can see. Seacret products produce noticeable, instant results. This generates repeat business.

A product thats totally unique. No other brand follows our approach for using the therapeutic minerals of the Dead Sea in their most natural form.
You are not alone.

Our service and support is with you all the way.

We have phone and video conferences with you and your staff to keep everybody informed about our products. And our highly experienced product managers are available to visit your location and conduct training and demonstration sessions.

We are dedicated. Our commitment is very strong. We will serve you with a positive attitude, with professional service and always with competitive pricing.

We are environmentally conscious. Seacret products have never been, and will never be, tested on animals. Our entire line is designed with a priority on natural ingredients.

For more information on becoming a Seacret reseller, please email us with our Online Contact Form.