Registry

Does SodaStream support Israel?

Support documentedupdated 2026-07-30

Yes — SodaStream has documented support for Israel on record. Every claim below links to its source.

Filed under: Food & beverage brands · Household & consumer goods brands · Companies that support Israel

Background

SodaStream is the most-cited case in the entire boycott argument, and its facts are unusually well documented on all sides. Between 1997 and 2015 its main factory sat in the Mishor Adumim industrial park of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, employing hundreds of Palestinians; that siting produced a 2010 European Court of Justice ruling against 'Made in Israel' labelling for the goods, a global BDS campaign that saw retailers from Macy's to John Lewis drop the product, and the January 2014 collision in which Scarlett Johansson gave up an eight-year Oxfam ambassadorship rather than her SodaStream contract. The factory closed in October 2015 and production moved inside Israel to the Idan HaNegev park near Rahat, with a roughly $20 million Israeli government grant; SodaStream called the move purely commercial, BDS called it a victory, and around 500 Palestinian workers lost their jobs. The company remains a BDS consumer-boycott priority target to this day, now on the different ground that it is 'complicit in Israel's policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of present-day Israel in the Naqab.' Since December 2018 SodaStream has been a wholly owned PepsiCo subsidiary that still manufactures in Israel with about 1,400 workers, many of them Negev Bedouin. One item often misattributed to the company belongs to an individual: in October 2024 Daniel Birnbaum, who left the CEO post in 2019, personally offered $100,000 to any Gazan who delivered a living Israeli hostage to safety — a private initiative by a former executive, not a corporate act by SodaStream or PepsiCo.

BDS Movement — Guide to BDS Boycott (current priority targets) The Times of Israel — Everything you need to know about SodaStream's move The Jerusalem Post — former SodaStream CEO's $100,000 offer Ynetnews — former SodaStream CEO offers Gazans $100K for living hostages

Timeline of documented support

199720002003200620092012201520181997 — Operations in Israel: Mishor Adumim settlement industrial park, Ma'ale Adumim, occupied West BankOperations in Israel19971998 — Operations in Israel: State of Israel (taxes, employment, export brand)Operations in Israel19982014-01 — Sponsorship: Scarlett Johansson (global brand ambassador)Sponsorship2014-012015-09 — Public statement: Not applicable — public statement by then-CEO Daniel BirnbaumPublic statement2015-092015-10 — Operations in Israel: Idan HaNegev Industrial Park near Rahat and Lehavim, Negev, Israel; Israeli government (grant recipient)Operations in Israel2015-102018-12 — Acquisition: PepsiCo, Inc. (buyer) — SodaStream International Ltd. shareholders (sellers)Acquisition2018-12

Documented support

TypeDateAmountRecipientSources
Operations in Israel1998—State of Israel (taxes, employment, export brand)
SodaStream is a British-born brand — the original 'apparatus for aerating liquids' was patented in London in 1903 and the machine was a UK household name in the 1980s — that became an Israeli company in 1998, when the Israeli firm Soda-Club bought it and later folded the group into the SodaStream name. The Israeli owners closed the English factory in Peterborough in 2003, Fortissimo Capital took a controlling stake in 2007 and installed Daniel Birnbaum as CEO, and the company listed on NASDAQ in November 2010, raising $125.3 million in what was then the eighth-largest Israeli offering on that exchange. Its manufacturing base has been in Israel ever since.
Operations in Israel1997—Mishor Adumim settlement industrial park, Ma'ale Adumim, occupied West Bank
From 1997 until 2015 SodaStream's main plant stood in Mishor Adumim, the industrial park of the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank, employing roughly 500-600 Palestinian workers alongside Israeli staff. This siting is the origin of every subsequent controversy about the company. In 2010 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that goods made there could not claim the 'Made in Israel' preference under the EC-Israel agreement, because settlements fall outside its territorial scope, and the company later began separately labelling West Bank production. In July 2014 SodaStream dismissed about 60 Palestinian workers after a dispute over food provision during Ramadan night shifts; the company said they had staged a wildcat strike and received severance.
Sponsorship2014-01—Scarlett Johansson (global brand ambassador)
In January 2014 SodaStream signed the actress Scarlett Johansson as its first global brand ambassador, with a commercial airing during the Super Bowl on 2 February 2014. Because the company's main factory then stood in a West Bank settlement, the deal collided with her eight-year role as a global ambassador for Oxfam, which opposes all trade from Israeli settlements on the grounds that they are illegal and deny Palestinians their rights. Johansson defended the partnership publicly, describing herself as a supporter of 'economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine' and calling the company 'a bridge to peace,' and on 29-30 January 2014 stepped down from the Oxfam role, citing a 'fundamental difference of opinion.' The endorsement ended in 2015. Attribution note: this was a paid commercial endorsement of the company by an individual, not a donation by either party.
Operations in Israel2015-10—Idan HaNegev Industrial Park near Rahat and Lehavim, Negev, Israel; Israeli government (grant recipient)
SodaStream closed the Mishor Adumim settlement plant in October 2015 and moved production inside Israel, to a new factory in the Idan HaNegev industrial park near Rahat and Lehavim, north of Beersheba — about 60 miles from the old site. The Israeli government supported the move with a roughly $20 million grant as part of its development push in the south. Since 2016 the Idan HaNegev plant has been the company's principal facility, employing about 1,400 people, many of them Negev Bedouin, with additional Israeli production of syrups and flavours in Ashkelon and plants in Germany and the Netherlands. The relocation cost about 500 Palestinians their jobs: only 74 transferred and Israel approved roughly 130 work permits for the new site against some 600 Palestinians previously employed, and the last Palestinian workers left in 2016 when the permits were not renewed. The company said the move was 'purely commercial,' worth about 2% in savings.
Public statement2015-09-03—Not applicable — public statement by then-CEO Daniel Birnbaum
Announcing the West Bank factory's closure from the floor of the new Negev plant, CEO Daniel Birnbaum rejected the BDS movement's claim of victory and attacked the campaign in terms that made international headlines: 'It's propaganda. It's politics. It's hate. It's anti-Semitism. It's all the bad stuff we don't want to be part of.' He argued that 'SodaStream should have been encouraged in the West Bank if the BDS movement truly cared about the Palestinian people,' said its Palestinian employees had been paid and treated better than they would be elsewhere in the West Bank, and put the boycott's effect on the business at 'marginal,' blaming falling US demand for sugary drinks instead. Attributed to the CEO speaking for the company.
Acquisition2018-12-05$3,200,000,000PepsiCo, Inc. (buyer) — SodaStream International Ltd. shareholders (sellers)
PepsiCo completed its acquisition of SodaStream on 5 December 2018, buying all outstanding shares at $144 each in a deal valued at about $3.2 billion — a 32% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price, announced in August 2018. SodaStream's results have since been consolidated into PepsiCo's reporting and the platform now carries PepsiCo brands including Pepsi, Pepsi Max, 7 Up and Mountain Dew. Attribution note: SodaStream is today a wholly owned PepsiCo subsidiary whose manufacturing and workforce remain in Israel; its pre-2018 decisions were those of an independent Israeli company and are not PepsiCo's.

Frequently asked questions

Did SodaStream donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?

We have no records of cash donations, but SodaStream has documented support of other kinds (Operations in Israel, Sponsorship, Public statement, Acquisition). See the records on this page.

Where does this information come from?

Every record on this page links to its source — news reports, official company statements, tax filings, or government records. 13 distinct sources are cited for SodaStream. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.

Sources & citations

Record last updated: 2026-07-30

Companies with documented support