AHAVA cosmetics mulls plant inside Green Line

AHAVA, an Israeli and international cosmetics company, is examining options to launch a manufacturing facility in the Tamar Regional Council, which is within the Green Line, Globes reports.

Currently the company runs a factory in Mitzpe Shalem, a few kilometers northward. Mitzpe Shalem is beyond the Green Line, which marks the boundaries of Israel before the 1967 Six Day War.

The company has been the target of left-wing groups and pro-Palestinian groups abroad, and three years ago caved to pressure when it closed a branch in London that was the object of protests by activists who sought a boycott of the company’s products because they are manufactured in territories Israel took over in the Six Day War.

The company’s official statement uses language that avoids a direct reference to the pressure from left-wing and pro-Palestinian groups: “In light of expanding needs of manufacturing and changes in regulations regarding the manufacturing of cosmetics in certain Western countries, AHAVA is indeed checking the possibility of establishing another manufacturing facility. One of the options is the Tamar Regional Council. Other alternatives are being checked; there is still no final decision on opening another facility.”