One Ms Fathima Moosa, of Durban, South Africa, wrote to her local drugstore demanding that they stop selling made-in-Israel cosmetics. They declined to do so. She wrote again, repeating her demand. Here is CEO Ivan Saltzman’s unapologetic response:
“Dear Fatima Moosa,
I will begin by answering your likening Israel’s supposed human rights violations to Hitler’s Nazism, a scurrilous slur that you have clearly chosen to employ in order to give maximum offense. I think you well know that the crimes of the Nazi regime involved the deliberate mass murder of millions of civilians, largely Jews, as a matter of planned policy. Is this really what Israel is doing? Obviously not – in fact it does completely the opposite. Israel goes to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties and has been extremely successful in this regard. Palestinian (or for that matter Lebanese) casualties have been a tiny fraction of what they would have been if Israel had truly adopted a Nazi-like extermination policy, given the massive military capability it has at its disposal.
In fact, it is very easy to identify the true modern-day Nazis in the Middle East. They are found in the ranks of such murderous extremist groupings as Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestine Islamic Jihad (amongst others), all of which regard the mass murder of Israeli Jews as the noblest goal their followers can aspire to. Have you ever thought what the consequences would be if Israel were to adopt the same kind of tactics against the Palestinian population? Mass slaughter would indeed ensue, but fortunately Israel, no matter what the provocation, has not nor will not ever stoop to such depths.
So far as your stated intention of boycotting Dis-Chem goes, that is obviously your decision. After all, we do live in a free country. However, if it is your intention to boycott Israeli products, you need to be consistent If your gesture is to have any meaning. I hope you don’t use an intel chip in your computer with which you probably wrote your e-mail because it was invented in Israel. I hope that you stay in good health because if you need preventative surgery against a heart attack, you will have to boycott the procedure because guess what? The stent was invented in Israel. Likewise, I hope you are never prescribed any patch for diabetes, to deliver medication and other drugs. If you are an asthmatic you may have to use a new type of inhaler (Spin) invented in Israel. So please check. Israel has given the world the system of drip irrigation which is being widely adopted in South Africa with water shortages like many countries. You should boycott all fruit and vegetables grown by this method. The list that Israel has given the world is very lengthy. Check very carefully what you boycott.
You may not have noticed the crisis in the Arab world, “Arab Spring” which now is in Winter with no end in sight. To the best of my knowledge this concerns human rights. But then I have an HD TV which you are probably boycotting. The cheapness of life in Somalia and Sudan is perpetrated by the very people who you are strongly affiliated to! You obviously don’t know that the racism of Hitler differs very little to that of Israel’s enemies. Both want the destruction of the Jewish people.
I believe I had to answer your “complaint”. I will continue to sell Dead Sea products from Israel. You might know the Dead Sea has two shores. I wonder why the Jordanians or Palestinians (most come from Jordan) do not want to share this wonderful natural resource of the Dead Sea.
I will not respond to any further correspondence on this subject.
Yours faithfully
IVAN SALTZMAN | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER”
Full disclosure: I have no commercial interest in Dead Sea products or Dis-Chem, and I do not know Ivan Saltzman.
