The Israeli company SodaStream, a world-renowned producer of sparkling water-makers, has offered to provide jobs to 1,000 refugees from Syria in its new plant in southern Israel.
SodaStream's new factory in Rahat, a town of 55,000, could absorb 1,000 persons and provide them with an opportunity to build a new life in Israel, pending authorities' approval, according to a news release issued by the company cited by 'i24News'.
Israeli authorities are unlikely to grant approval to such an initiative as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently rejected all the proposals brought up for Israel to take in Syrian refugees.
SodaStream was targeted by the international BDS movement for operating a plant in the West Bank where it provided work for hundreds of Palestinians. The company recently announced that its plant would be moved from the West Bank to southern Israel.
Company CEO Daniel Birnbaum said the announcement to take in refugees was designed to put pressure on the government to rethink its stance on offering asylum to Syrian refugees.
"As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I refuse to stand by and observe this human tragedy unfold right across the border in Syria," Birnbaum said in the press release. "Just as we have always done our best to help our Palestinian brothers and sisters in the West Bank, the time has come for local business and municipal leaders to address the Syrian humanitarian crisis and take the initiative to help those in need. We cannot expect our politicians to bear the entire burden of providing aid for the refugees."
