Israel’s SodaStream hosts thousands for Ramadan feast

RAHAT, Israel – SodaStream is hosting nearly 3,000 Israelis and Palestinians for a Ramadan fast-ending meal at its factory in the southern Israel town of Rahat.

Bedouins and Jewish Israelis and some Palestinians attended the feast on Monday along with U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

Friedman writes on Twitter that he had “the pure joy” to attend, and touts SodaStream as a paragon of peace: “Muslims, Druze, Christians and Jews working together, each making the other better, happier and more prosperous.”

SodaStream, manufacturer of fizzy drink-machines and other bubbly products, shut its West Bank factory in 2015 amid boycott calls and opened a new facility in the predominantly Bedouin town of Rahat. PepsiCo bought SodaStream last year for $3.2 billion.