BDS INITIATIVES HARM PALESTINIANS — Teva Case Study
I am a huge believer that economic integration is a critical component toward reducing conflict. Joint innovation, collaboration, and mutually beneficial trade agreements can have significant impact on reducing tensions and aligning incentives.
This is why I am opposed to Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) initiatives against Israel that are picking up steam around the globe.
- When you peel back the onion BDS actually causes direct material damage to Arab Israelis and Palestinians.
- BDS programs cause indirect damage to the wider world.
- BDS programs are based on flimsy logic.
There are significantly better ways to support Palestinians (I share what I do at the bottom).
I am starting this series to unpack various BDS initiatives to show exactly why they are fundamentally flawed with the hope of finding better pathways to reaching coexistence.
Let’s look at TEVA PHARMA
Teva Pharmaceuticals is a global multinational corporation that specializes in the manufacture and distribution of Generic Drugs. “Generic Drugs” are drugs that contain the exact same chemistry as “Brand Name” drugs — but they are created at fractions of the cost as soon as the patent on the Branded drug expires.
This saves billions of dollars to healthcare systems. And it saves billions of dollars to patients. Teva’s generic medicines contributed to $44 billion dollars of savings across the globe. $36B in the US and nearly $3B in the UK.
More than that, because of the low price of the generic similar, Teva’s product allow developing countries to buy life-saving drugs for their citizens that they otherwise couldn’t afford. Teva is a global leader in giving access to medications in developing countries, and works across dozens of countries.
Teva is also Israeli.
Because of this fact, Pro-Hamas protesters have been actively boycotting Teva:
The Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement cites three main reasons for boycotting TEVA:
- Doing Business in the Settlements
- Teva’s tax contributions support the Israeli Government
- Teva Limit’s competition for West Bank drug manufacturers
All Three of these claims are based on false premises, so let’s unpack them:
Doing Business in the Settlements
This is the easiest one to debunk:
I will add something else — it is actually really unfortunate that Teva is not in the West Bank. If Teva was in the West Bank they would be giving employment to hundreds of Palestinians.
Teva’s taxes contribute to the Israeli Government
This is true, but it is also flagrantly misleading. Teva has a full-ownership subsidiary model. Meaning every country where Teva operates is it’s own independent company.
These independent companies all pay taxes in the country they are located.
More than that, only 2% of Teva’s revenues come from Israel, and an even smaller percentage of their profit (taxes are paid on profit)
This means that nearly 100% of what Teva pays in taxes is NOT in Israel.
That’s right — Teva is actually supporting the immigration programs for hundreds of thousands of immigrants — primarily Muslims — who come to Europe by directly paying taxes in Europe.
The twisted irony of this cannot be understated. The BDS initiative against TEVA actually harms the thousands of Muslims who are coming to the West for refuge.
Teva limit’s competition for West Bank drug manufacturers
There are 3 companies in the West Bank who also produce generic drugs: SamaPharm, Birzeit Pharm, and AlQuds Pharma. All of them work in the capital world of competition and sell wherever they can prove value-add. There is no limitation on these companies selling in Israel or anywhere else.
In fact, AlQuds actually does sell products in Israel:
There have been some claims that there is an actual law that states that West Bank products cannot be sold in Israel. I did not find any justification of this, and AlQuds actually proves the opposite.
More interestingly is the fact that the opposite is true. Israeli products are officially banned from the following countries: Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and partially in Saudi Arabia.
Interesting all the countries where AlQuds is doing very well — their sales have been growing.
What we see here is the infamous Double Standard. The BDS movement claims Israel is actively limiting sales of West Bank products, when in reality there are nearly a dozen countries that are actually limiting sales:
If a person criticizes Israel and only Israel on certain issues, but chooses to ignore similar situations conducted by other countries they are performing a double standard policy against Israel.
So what is this BDS initiative against Teva actually accomplishing?
In short, it is preventing hundreds of millions of people from getting access to affordable drugs. This BDS initiative is destroying the tax contribution of Teva in their own countries, which directly affects their livelihood.
The sick and twisted logic of the BDS initiative can best be understood by the comments in this Twitter post about the recent protests at the Teva HQ in Castleford:
What commenter Roger says is true: The BDS initiative against TEVA is literally put the lives of hundreds of millions of people on the line based on flawed reasoning, a deep misunderstanding of how economies work, and straight up lies.
So what can people do regarding TEVA to actually support Palestinians?
If the BDS initiative actually cared about Palestinians and Muslims in general they would push the PA to allow for Teva to open a plant in the West Bank and employ thousands of Palestinians. This plant could serve as the basis for the wider region and give hundreds of millions of Muslims in the MENA region access to medication they desperately need at affordable prices.
What is so twisted is that: this is actually what the Israeli government is trying to do!
That’s right.
In 2017 the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) launched an Incentive Track to encourage multinational in healthcare to expand R&D in Israel and Gaza. The scheme was simple — a multination expands in Israel and Gaza and the Israeli government (my taxes) chips in. This is to encourage economic activity and employment.
And here is the best part. The Israeli government gave significant added incentive for those companies who would operate in Gaza.
This flies in the face of the entire BDS initiative against TEVA:
The Israeli government, my actual taxes, would go to TEVA if they employ Palestinians in Gaza.
The BDS initiative against TEVA is doing the exact opposite!
You can’t make this up.
The TEVA case is indicative of wider issues in BDS campaigns, just like the Starbucks BDS campaign and the McDonald’s BDS campaign.
Ultimately these initiatives cause significant harm, are based on false premises, and they do nothing to actually support Palestine.
There are many practical ways to support Palestine and to foster collaboration and mutually beneficial economic ties.
Here are some of the things I have personally done over the last two years:
- Entrepreneurship Seminars for burgeoning founders from the West Bank
- Working with the leading HMO in Israel to provide remote care access for the dispersed Bedouin population.
- Working with local NGOs to bring technology to address Diabetes for the Arab Israeli and Druze population in the north of Israel.
- Upcoming massive project with a global NGO to build an innovation infrastructure for the Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem (crossing fingers this one gets approved).
- Daily support for dozens of startups that are either founded by Arab Israelis, employ Arab Israelis in key positions, or employ Palestinians from Gaza and the W.B. remotely: Helping them connect to investors, co-developers, corporate entities, pilot sites, etc..
And indirectly — as this TEVA case study shows — the taxes I pay go to support initiatives that support Palestinians in Gaza.
Note that none of these efforts involve blatant Anti-Semitism, hate-speech, or fabricated biased misinformation promoted on socials like Candace Owens or Gigi Hadid.
What have you done?
