starbucks

In April 2003 Starbucks Corp. ended its operations in Israel by closing the six stores it had in that country. The coffee giant had first placed outlets in Israel in August 2001, creating a joint venture with Delek Group, the publicly-traded Israeli conglomerate, for this purpose.
... Starbucks has drawn some criticism in the U.S. for the closure. In these politically charged times anything that smacks of preference bestowed upon Arab interests or short shrift given to Israeli interests is perceived as something that needs be protested. This simplified world view reduces complex matters to ones of good guys versus bad guys. That this system proves wholly useless when other factors interfere does little to lessen its comfort value.

Starbucks didn't remove itself from Israel because it was pro-Arab or anti-Israeli; it did so because this was the business decision that appeared to make the best sense. Although the corporation has given muddled explanations for its pull-out from Israel � sometimes citing the danger of terrorist attacks, sometimes making passing mention of "operational challenges" � the most likely reasons for the retreat were Starbucks' difficulties in dealing with its Israeli partner and the underperformance of their six stores. (Starbucks was a latecomer to an already-saturated Israeli market, didn't adapt well to local market conditions, and offered little to distinguish themselves from their competition except higher prices). As Chief Financial Officer Michael Casey said about the cessation of Starbuck's operations in Israel, "It's a difficult place to do business, as you can imagine. And we've had some disagreements of philosophy with the partner. You put those two together and we just decided it was a good time to stop."

Starbucks continues to perform well in Arab countries. Though one would suppose anti-American sentiment would undercut the coffee maker's business there, their product has proved popular even in countries where Americans are not well loved. Since Starbucks opened its first overseas outlet in 1996, it has developed into an international presence with more than 6,400 stores worldwide, including 1,400 in thirty countries outside North America such as Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

Quoted from http://www.snopes.com/politics/israel/starbucks.asp
Barbara "coffee to go" Mikkelson pulled 11 Sep 03.

However, I would submit to you that

1. NOT ONE Starbucks was closed in an Arabic country.
2. EVERY Starbucks was closed in Israel.
3. Starbucks is attempting to downplay this for obvious reasons.
4. The excuse that terrorism was a factor is NOT valid because there is terrorism in other countries too. In some instances a lot of it too.
5. Why would Starbucks close EVERY one of its coffee shops in a country and not just the ones not pulling in a profit?
6. Did EVERY one of those coffee shops come out a loser? I question this one.

I think that we ought to be concerned about this as it sets a dangerous precedent that could potentially lead to anti-Semitism.

Check out the Jewish Defense League by clicking here.

Do you notice anyting dispicable about this poster that Starbucks was FORCED to recall?

Below is an article I pulled from snopes. The article was taken from the New York Times. It is "explains" was Starbucks closed EVERY Starbucks in Israel and NONE in any Arabic country. Personally, I am NOT satisfied with the response.