The Cutting Edge

A loose coalition of Jewish groups led by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has renewed it call for a public boycott of Coca-Cola products, and for Jewish members of the public to boycott the company’s kosher-for-Passover products during the current Passover holiday. The call comes at time when Coke heightens its kosher for Passover foods and beverages, and as the company prepares for its frequently contentious annual stockholder meeting.

Behind the protest movement is the Bigio property confiscation case. By way of information, the Bigio Family of Canada in earlier decades owned property near Cairo, Egypt. Their family had the property since the early 1900’s. Coca-Cola had been leasing the property and contracting with the Bigios, until the property was illegally taken from the family by the Egyptian government in 1964 during a campaign of anti-Semitism. In 1979, the Egyptian government ordered that the Bigios’ property be returned to them, but Egyptian courts repeatedly refused to enforce the order. In 1994, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Egypt “purchased” the property when it was “privatized.” When the Bigios contacted Coca-Cola to remind the company of the family’s right to the property and requested to be justly compensated, top Coca-Cola officials apparently brushed the family aside. The story was the subject of an Edwin Black investigation in The Cutting Edge News last Passover (On Passover, an Egyptian Jew Battles Coca-Cola in the USA for a Modern Day Injustice) .

The Bigios brought a federal court action against Coca-Cola in 1997. Since then, Coca-Cola’s lawyers have used numerous legal maneuvers to avoid reaching the merits of the Bigios’ case, according to Bigio legal sources. All of Coke's procedural objections have failed both in the U.S. Court of Appeals and once in the U.S. Supreme Court, legal sources say. But the case has dragged on.

The ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice, under the direction of Susan Tuchman, Esq., submitted an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief to the Court of Appeals in support of the Bigios. But in 2007, with no resolution in sight, the ZOA called for a boycott of Coca-Cola products and then in 2008, held a protest outside Coca-Cola’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Wilmington, Delaware.

Following intensified boycott and protest efforts, Coca-Cola finally agreed to mediate its dispute with the Bigios. The mediation, which the Bigios were required to fund in part, concluded in March 2009, without a settlement. Indeed, Coca-Cola never offered any money to the Bigio family in settlement of the case during the mediation, according to legal sources familiar with the preoceedings.

Nathan Lewin, Esq., the Bigios’ lawyer and a member of the ZOA-CLJ’s board of advisors, has confirmed, “Coca-Cola did not mediate in good faith. Over the entire mediation, Coca-Cola never proposed any offer of settlement whatsoever, while the Bigios, in an effort to settle, made several offers, including one that was far below the current market value of the property.” Lewin added, “This company has acted despicably and members of the public should hold the company accountable.

Turning to the boycott and protest efforts, Lewin minced few words. He stated, "Coca-Cola is conducting its annual shareholders’ meeting in Georgia on April 22, 2009, and the company should get the message that the public won’t tolerate its unconscionable behavior. The company relies on its Jewish customers to buy Coca-Cola’s kosher-for-Passover products. The Jewish public should boycott Coca-Cola products until Coca-Cola acts fairly and ethically and rights the wrong against the Bigios.”

Morton A. Klein, the ZOA’s National President, echoed Mr. Lewin’s sentiments: “Coca-Cola may have a rabbinic seal of approval for Passover. But it cannot get a seal of approval for its immoral and unethical behavior. Coca-Cola has avoided treating the Bigios justly for too long already.” Klein added, “The company must finally stop participating in and benefitting from anti-Semitism. We urge the Jewish public not to buy Coca-Cola products for Passover, and all decent and fair-minded people should boycott Coca-Cola products until the company finally does the right thing and compensates the Bigios for their loss.”

Coca-Cola has refused to comment on the current boycott and protest effort.