Israel: Capping the Crisis

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Two weeks ago, B'nai B'rith's Manhattan-based Anti-Defamation League charged that the Coca-Cola Co., in denying a franchise to a Tel Aviv bottler, was kowtowing to the Arab nations' boycott against foreign firms that do business with Israel. After all, noted the league, Coke has plants in 18 Arab states that might be closed down if the Tel Aviv franchise were granted.

The accusation brought an acid reply from Coca-Cola Export Corp. Chairman James A. Farley, Franklin Roosevelt's old campaign manager. The company, snapped Farley, was not about to honor "any boycott." Fact was, he continued, that the Israeli bottler in question, the Tempo Beverage Co., was an undesirable business associate; in 1963, Coke had to go to court to make Tempo stop "infringement of the Coca-Cola trademark and bottle design." And Tempo, inevitably, was the disgruntled bottler that had complained to the Anti-Defamation League in the first place. Muttered a league spokesman: "I can't understand why they didn't tell us all this."

Despite Farley's statement, the dispute kept bubbling. Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital stopped buying Coke for its cafeteria. Nathan's Famous Hot Dog emporium on Coney Island and a New York theater chain threatened to do the same. The New York City Human Rights Commission even called for an investigation of Coca-Cola. At that point, Coca-Cola decided it had had enough pop shots. Farley announced that the company was awarding an Israeli franchise to Manhattan Banker Abraham Feinberg, who is also president of the Israel Development Corp., which promotes Bonds for Israel. The decision, crowed the Anti-Defamation League, "will show other American corporations the sham that the Arab boycott really is." The Arabs remained to be heard from.