Daniel Birnbaum, CEO of SodaStream, being interviewed on the BBC. Photo: Screenshot / BBC.

Back in the 60s, anti-war activists sometimes used the pejorative phrase “you have to burn the village to save it” to condemn U.S. military tactics in Vietnam, to (unfairly) characterize the alleged destruction of North Vietnamese villages as being for the larger purpose of purging Viet Cong forces from the area. While such sloganeering was something of a specialty within the anti-war movement, that particular sentiment comes to mind when considering the mindless, destructive campaign by Oxfam, and like-minded pro-BDS groups, against the SodaStream factory in Mishor Adumim.

As you’ll see in the following clip of a segment on BBC’s Newsnight, Oxfam (an anti-poverty organization!) would evidently rather see 500 Palestinians fired from their jobs than tolerate the presence of a successful Israeli owned factory in Area C of the West Bank. Whilst there are some anti-settlement lies that go unchallenged during the debate, the hypocrisy and moral obtuseness of Oxfam and the broader anti-SodaStream movement is clearly revealed in the exchange between Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman, Oxfam’s Director of Policy Ben Phillips, and SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum.

Adam Levick is the managing editor of CiF Watch, an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA).