Disney owner boycotts Israeli company Ahava

Remember this the next time you plan a trip to either Disney World or Disney Land

The boycott against Israeli companies reached a new high as American Disney owner announced a boycott against Ahava Products.

The campaign to boycott goods produced in settlements is gaining ground both among the Jews of America and in Israel, where thousands of people have joined Peace Now in a call to challenge a law prohibiting boycotts and avoid buying anything produced east of the Green Line.

Now, the campaign just got a little more lively: Abigail Disney, whose grandfather, Roy O., and uncle Walt Disney founded the entertainment giant that bears his name, has issued a statement this morning defending the boycott of skin care product maker Ahava. The Ahava factory and visitor center is located in Mitzpe Shalem, a settlement about a mile from the western shore of the Dead Sea.

The declaration of Disney, is far from theoretical: She is a principal investor and former vice chairman of the board of Shamrock Holdings Inc., the investment firm founded by her father, Roy E. Disney, which owns about 18.5 percent of Ahava. "Recent evidence from documents of the Israeli Civil Administration showed that Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories clay sources used in their products are from the shores of the Israeli controlled Dead Sea, which is in direct contravention of the provisions of the Hague Regulations and Geneva Conventions prohibiting the exploitation of natural resources from occupied territories, "Disney said in a statement.

"While I always keep my colleagues and co-workers in the highest sense, I cannot in good conscience keep of what is technically the 'looting' of the occupied natural resources and the company is placing a factory in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. Due to the complicated legal and financial restrictions I cannot withdraw my investment at this time, but will donate the body of the

investment and profits accrued to me during the term of my participation of the organizations in working to end this illegal exploitation."

This marks the latest achievement of the global campaign against Ahava, entitled "Stealing Beauty".

Since the campaign began in 2009, Ahava was forced to close shop in Covent Garden in London, the loss of its distributor in Japan, was banned by a major retail chain in Norway, and was named specifically in the call conducted last week by the Presbyterian Church to boycott settlement products.