(25 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Salfit, West Bank – 13 February 2025
1. Various of kids buying soft drink
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdulqader Hassan, 25, supermarket owner in Salfit:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“The scope of the boycott is very clear to people. The first thing people ask now is whether the product supports the boycott or not, Chat (Cola) had the largest share after the war in general. The consequences of the war gave Chat (Cola) a big role in these things, at the end, this supports the Palestinian products.”
3. Close of Chat Cola cans
4. Wide of Omar Maadi, 28, standing on the street with a can of Chat Cola in hand
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Omar Maadi, 28, resident of Salfit:
“We don’t want to support the Israeli products at all. Buying Israeli products gives them support to buy weapons. They trade in our blood and money.”
6. Wide of the Chat Cola factory
7. Various of production line at the Chat Cola factory
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fahed Arar, general manager of Chat Cola:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“It (Chat Cola) was available in Tel Aviv, and not in Ramallah. Ramallah had a prestige (perception) that as long as it is a national or Palestinian product, it’s not at the same level of international (imported) products. So the boycott made people taste it, and once they did, they became convinced of its presence, regardless of whether it was boycotted or not. People got used to it, even when there were obstacles by the Israelis at the checkpoint. At the time, when empty cans were not allowed to enter, people asked us to fill plastic bags, and they would take it with ‘Chat’ written on it. We’ve received a lot of praise from people on social media for the product, and I’m proud of it. I’m proud that I am able to compete with global companies and establish my brand."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ramallah, West Bank – 20 February 2025
9. Wide of KFC branch
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Salfit, West Bank – 13 February 2025
10. Various of production line at the Chat Cola factory
11. Close of Chat Cola cans
12. Various of production line
STORYLINE:
Order a Coke to wash down some hummus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank these days and chances are the waiter will shake his head disapprovingly — or worse, mutter “shame, shame” in Arabic — before suggesting the popular local alternative: a can of Chat Cola.
Chat Cola — its red tin and sweeping white script bearing remarkable resemblance to the iconic American soft drink’s logo — has seen its products explode in popularity across the occupied West Bank in the past year as Palestinian consumers, angry at America’s steadfast support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, protest with their pocketbooks.
“Buying Israeli products gives them support to buy weapons,” said Omar Maadi, 28, who was strolling down the street on a recent morning in the West Bank village of Salfit with a can of Chat Cola in hand. He said he stopped drinking Coke because he believed that, as an American company with ties to Israel, “it trades in our blood.”
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered Israel’s devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian-led boycott movement against companies perceived as supportive of Israel gained momentum across the Middle East, where the perennial American corporate targets like McDonald’s, KFC and Starbucks saw sales slide last year.
With orders pouring in not only from Lebanon and Yemen but also the United States and Europe, Chat Cola has its sights set on the international market, said Ahmad Hammad, the company’s PR manager.
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