Starbucks and Israel

[Fountain79]

I received a forwarded e-mail from a friend concerning Israel and Starbucks. It's a satiracal letter aimed at pointing out Starbucks' or at least their chairmen's support for Israel. Here's the text:

Dear Starbucks Customer,

First and foremost I want to thank you for making Starbucks the $6.4 billion global company it is today, with more than 90,000 employees, 9,700 stores, and 33 million weekly customers. Every latte and macchiato you drink at Starbucks is a contribution to the close alliance between the United States and Israel, in fact it is - as I was assured when being honoured with the "Israel 50th Anniversary Friend of Zion Tribute Award" - key to Israel's long-term PR success. Your daily chocolate chips frappucino helps paying for student projects in North America and Israel, presenting them with the badly needed Israeli perspective of the Intifada.

Starbucks, through the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah, an international network of Jewish education centres, sponsors Israeli military arms fairs in an effort to strengthen the special connection between the American, European and Israeli defence industries and to showcase the newest Israeli innovations in defence. As my contribution to the fight against the global rise of anti-Semitism, the reason behind the current conflict in the Middle-East, I help Aish HaTorah sponsoring the website "honestreporting.com" and produce material informing of Israel's side of the story.

Without you, my valued customer, I wouldn't be able to raise hundreds of millions of dollars each year to support Israeli citizens from terrorist attacks and keep reminding every Jew in America, to defend Israel at any cost. $5 billion per year from the US government are no way near enough to pay for all the weaponry, bulldozers and security fences needed to protect innocent Israeli citizens from anti-Semitic Muslim terrorism. Corporate sponsorships are essential.

Having the bigger picture in mind, Starbucks have donated a store to the US army to help in the "War on Terror". I cannot emphasise enough, how vital the "War on Terror" is for the continued viability and prospering of the Jewish State.

So next time you feel like chilling out at a Starbucks store, please remember that with every cup you drink at Starbucks you are helping with a noble cause.

Howard Schultz
Chairman & Chief Global Strategist
Starbucks Coffee Stores

Has anyone seen this and/or know the validity of it? For the record, I tend to favor Israel in this region, but I don't doubt there's another side to this. I am just trying to separate fact from bullshit.

[Fountain79]

1. Did this in the wrong forum? whoops...n/t

[catmother]

2. i've never had anything from starbucks, but my husband drinks

their coffee. i'm glad that he's helping israel.

[Solo_in_MD]

3. Sounds quite bogus to me

[niyad]

4. welll you might consider one of the other letters flying around the web,

which states that starbucks has pulled out of israel, but remains in arab countries:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-starbucks_israel.htm

[breakaleg]

5. It appears the owner of Starbucks does support Israel and was

given some award in 1998 for this. Here's a link to an article. I found similar references from sources other than Al-Jazeera, but am giving this one as it hits more points.


http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_id=11709

[Nikki Stone 1]

6. This sounds bogus. Where is Snopes on this?

...

[medeak]

7. Starbucks closed all stores in Israel

this has to be bogus

http://www.snopes.com/politics/israel/starbucks.asp

[burythehatchet]

8. There's a list of companies that for those who would boycott Israel.

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.html

[adriennui]

12. thanks for the info

i now know who i can support by who does business with israel.

[burythehatchet]

13. that's cool, we're all guilty at some time or another

of supporting states that sponsor terror. For example, we all drank Coca Cola while they were supporting that other apartheid regime, South Africa. But the boycott forced them to divest eventually.

By the way, Starbucks coffee sucks ass.

[adriennui]

14. i go out of my way to support israel

i believe it is one of the few democracies in the mid-east maybe even the only one.
i make no excuses nor will i ever apologize. israel is held to a different standard than any other country in the region. it's a nasty neighborhood and it must defend itself, any way it can.
no mea culpas.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Throw Away Your Cellphone, Voicemail And Windows Operating System

Because they were developed in Israel.




The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola-Israel. Motorola built its largest development center worldwide in Israel.

Windows NT software was developed by Microsoft-Israel.

Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.

http://www.newsoftheday.com/


And how come Burger King and Armani Exchange aren't on that list. They have stores in Israel. I suspect just about every western company has a presence in Israel as they do in most countries with money to spend.

[Fountain79]

9. Starbucks does serve the U.S. troops

which personally I applaud.

[adriennui]

10. this is BS. do a little research

but yes, the ceo of starbucks is a supporter of israel.....as am i. sue me.


so much bullshit, so little time.

[Fountain79]

11. I try to but the only discussion I get on the internet about this letter

is from sites that clearly side against Israel. Again to clarify, I am not saying this is true, I am just trying to hear from people who have seen this letter circulated.

p.s. The website that posts this letter also has a section on Holocaust denial.

[cali]

17. Just curious;

why on earth would you use a website that deals in holocaust denial?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. Good Catch

He couldn't have learned that though without his Israeli developed Windows operating system or

maybe he's serious about the boycott and doesn't have any Microsoft software.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. For What It's Worth

Starbucks is a "blue" company:


http://www.buyblue.org/node/1898/view/summary


And I believe Starbucks is one of the few companies in its class that gives health benefits to its part time employees.

[Ms. Clio]

19. the most important thing is that Starbucks coffee sucks the big one

a burnt and bitter brew. Yuck.

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

20. No way is this authentic

No multinational corporation would publish something like this, which clearly takes sides in an ideological, religious, and territorial war. There are just too many mistakes and unequivocals in this document to be even close to something a Chairman of a public company would put his/her name to.

On edit: I HATE Starbucks coffee...too hot, too strong...tastes like what barbecued coffee would be like.

[Jazz2006]

21. Do you seriously mean to suggest

that you cannot tell that this letter is bogus on its face?

Its falsity seems so blatantly obvious that it's difficult to imagine how anyone, except someone with a gullibility meter off the charts, could mistake it for legitimate.


Edit to add: the fact that it's on the David Icke website should have been your first clue. And 30 seconds of googling would find that the editor/publisher of a grossly anti-Semitic website (which, for obvious reasons I will not link to here) claims credit for having written the letter himself.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. The OP Acknowledges It's Bogus In His First Sentence

Peace

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

23. ay yi yi

Right you are.

[Jazz2006]

24. Not really.

He claims it is "satirical" but then asks about the "validity" of it. That suggests that the OP does not realize that it is entirely bogus.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

25. I Think He Was Trying To Foster Discussion

But I will let him speak for himself.

[Jazz2006]

26. You may be right.

And my initial reaction may have been more harsh than it should have been.

But, as noted above, when it comes from David Icke's site and another grossly anti-Semitic site whose owner takes credit for writing the blatantly anti-Semitic letter, well...