Jerusalem Post; 4-7

[4]

Jerusalem Post, June 15, 1999 http://www.jpost.com/com/Archive/15.Jun.1999/Business/Article-5.html. By ELI GRONER JERUSALEM (June 15) - The new $10,000 scholarships that L'Oreal will be offering here annually stem from what company Vice President Francois Vachey describes as a "desire to do something to commemorate Israel's 50th birthday." Vachey refers to L'Oreal's Migdal Ha'emek-based operation, Interbeauty (which employs close to 400), as the company's "Middle Eastern hub" and adds that he has "fallen in love" with the country. He sees his local employees as entrepreneurial, passionate, and very open-minded. But according to some, L'Oreal has a checkered past highlighted by a surrender to the Arab boycott years ago. In 1994, two US congressmen and a couple of Jewish groups called for a boycott of L'Oreal because of the French company's "compliance with the Arab boycott of Israel." The Washington Post reported at the time that in 1986, L'Oreal wrote to the Arab League's boycott office in Damascus that it had halted cosmetics production in Israel by its recently acquired Helena Rubinstein subsidiary, eliminated the company name worldwide, removed its long-standing directors, and "complied with all the regulations of the boycott of Israel." To the rest of the world, L'Oreal insisted that it never complied with the Arab boycott and that it continued to sell cosmetics in Israel. The tone of the company's letters to the Arab League was "not very nice," a L'Oreal official was quoted by the Post as saying, but the letters were "only an appearance. We have not discriminated against anybody." In 1995, L'Oreal agreed to pay more than $1.4 million to settle US Commerce Department charges that it cooperated with the boycott. "L'Oreal has been here for close to 20 years and L'Oreal never stopped marketing in Israel," he insists. "L'Oreal products were here long before those of most other major companies. In fact, we were one of the first major European companies to invest so heavily in Israel." What about the US Justice Department's 1991 investigation into L'Oreal executive Jacques Correze? (Before the probe ended, Correze resigned and then died the same day. He had been undergoing cancer treatment.) L'Oreal was unaware of this person's past and the Justice Department never even hinted that L'Oreal, as a company, was guilty in any way, shape, or form. This episode is contrary to our philosophy, which encourages multinational and religious coexistence. In fact, I would guess that approximately half of L'Oreal's board of directors is Jewish, but we never noticed that. I must emphasize that there has never been an antisemitic policy at L'Oreal.

[5]	Jewish Bulletin http://www.jewishsf.com/bk950901/usarab.htm. L'Oreal fined $1.4 million for following Arab boycott

[6]	Israeli Embassy - List of United States Companies with Investments in Israel http://www.israelemb.org/economic/uscompanies.htm L'Oreal purchased 35.5% of israeli company Interbeauty (12/96) $9m

[7]	Friends of Al-Aqsa http://www.aqsa.org.uk/flyers/boycott.html [source for Jubilee List - Islamic Human Rights Commision]

URL: http://www.inminds.com/boycott-l-oreal.html

HOME PAGE