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Much of the fallout from the Cartoon Intifada has been obvious: a boycott throughout much of the Islamic world of Danish products; riots in the streets of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia; attacks on consulates and western businesses.
But for Mecca Cola, the United Arabic Emirates-based company that competes head to head in Muslim populations with Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola, the fallout has been positive, with a ripple effect on their donations to Palestinian organizations linked to terror.
They have seen sales of Mecca Cola products triple since the outcry over the cartoons began.
According to Mecca Cola World Co. chairman Taoufik Mathlouthi "Growth came with these Danish caricatures. It's crazy but our sales multiplied by three. We cannot supply all the demand we have right now.”
In fact, business is so good that they have launched a new energy drink called “Mecca Power” with the slogan “get the Halal power”. Halal is an Arabic word that means “permitted” or “lawful” and is used to indicate something that is permissible under Islamic law.
This is good news for Palestinian charities in Gaza and the West Bank, which receive 10% of the proceeds of every can of Mecca Cola sold.
A press release on their website says:
Mecca-Cola says that it definitely will give money to charity and has gone to great pains to assure that its donations don't go to terrorism.
Ten percent will go to buy books and school equipment for Palestinian children, and the other 10 percent will go to local charities in France, Mathlouthi said. It is important for the Mecca-Cola boss to donate goods and not cash, states Mathlouthi: "We don't want people to think that we support soldiers or terrorist groups, only suffering children."
The Mecca Cola website includes an undated image of the charities that receive donations at http://www.mecca-cola.com/en/beneficiary.php. The document, which lists the charities and certifies their charitable status, is signed by Dr. Mousa Zabout.
But a United Nations, Division of Palestinian Rights, document published in 2003 describes Zabout as follows: “Moussa Zabout, a Gaza physician with ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad”. And at least two of the charities on the list of recipients were temporarily shut down by the Palestinian Monetary Fund under pressure from the US as fronts for PA rival Hamas.
We’ve requested a current list of charities from the Public Relations Department at Mecca Cola, and have received no reply.
The question needs to be answered.
Does Mecca Cola continue to fund Hamas-linked charities from sales of their products, not just in the Islamic world, but in the UK, France, and other parts of Europe?
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