This Wednesday, May 11 and Thursday, May 12, Birchbox.com is sponsoring an Ahava Twitter contest. They are calling on people to Tweet skincare question with the hashtag #AHAVAreborn. People who Tweet using that hashtag – part of Ahava’s REBRANDING campaign –will be entered into the contest and given a chance to win $300 worth of Mineral Magical Skincare. (See details below by clicking on the link.)

AHAVA Twitter Contest! Win $300 Worth of Mineral Magical Skincare

http://blog.birchbox.com/post/5243881997/ahava-twitter-contest-win-300-worth-of-mineral

We are asking Ahava boycott supporters to use the hashtags #AHAVAreborn & #stolenbeauty on Wednesday & Thursday to help get out the word about Ahava’s illegal practices and its occupation profiteering. PLEASE TWEET OFTEN. PLEASE SHARE THIS ACTION ALERT WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

Suggested sample tweets are below. You can CUT & PASTE, or write your own. Make sure you include the #hasthags #Ahavareborn & #stolenbeauty. If you click on the j.mp link below the sample Tweets, they will click to Tweet.

Thanks for helping to take the profit out of occupation.

The Stolen Beauty Ahava boycott team

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QUESTIONS WITH LINKS TO STOLEN BEAUTY FACTS & PRESS CLIPS

@birchbox Why are you selling cosmetics made on stolen land? See map http://bit.ly/jpOv9f #AhavaReborn #StolenBeauty

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/ksKRaI

How is Ahava complicit in the sins of occupation? http://bit.ly/ag6cTX #AhavaReborn #StolenBeauty #BDS @birchbox

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/la7bhz

Why is there a boycott campaign against Ahava? http://bit.ly/j5Xg92 #AhavaReborn #StolenBeauty #BDS

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/m6NJJC

Why have 10 rabbis signed onto a boycott against Ahava cosmetics? http://bit.ly/jHHts2 #AhavaReborn #StolenBeauty

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/jJQewW

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QUESTIONS:

#AhavaReborn What’s pretty about occupation profiteering? Don’t buy Ahava’s #stolenbeauty #BDS www.stolenbeauty.org

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/m8HKJ5

@birchbox Why are Ahava products made in a factory on stolen land? That’s ugly. #AhavaReborn #stolenbeauty. #BDS

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/kXhPQI

#AhavaReborn Ahava means love in Hebrew, but what’s loving about #stolenbeauty? www.stolenbeauty.org #BDS

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/iyll3U

@birchbox Why is Ahava’s factory & visitors center in an illegal Israeli settlement? #Ahavareborn #stolenbeauty #BDS

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/kkuvNp

Why do Ahava’s profits subsidize two illegal Israeli settlements? That’s ugly. #Ahavareborn #stolenbeauty @birchbox #BDS

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/iALBmL

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MORE TWEETS:

#AHAVAreborn – new sheepskin, same wolf. Don’t Buy Occupation profiteering. #stolenbeauty

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/ixU2Os

#AHAVAreborn – new label, same illegal Israeli settlement goods #stolenbeauty

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/lcKXa1

#AHAVAreborn is a Pandora’s Box of illegal activity – don’t buy it @BirchBox #stolenbeauty

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/jb4jhE

Even Mineral Magic can’t hide @AHAVA_US origins: Illegal Israeli Settlement #AHAVAreborn #bds #stolenbeauty

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/mlM2QP

#AHAVAreborn contest promises $300 of #stolenbeauty – Occupation Isn’t Pretty! www.stolenbeauty.org

Click to tweet it: http://j.mp/iRbUle

Full transcript of the day’s debates in Parliament available here.

The text below comes from a marginally edited version posted by the U.K. site Jews for Justice for Palestinians.

Excerpt: I now turn to a specific case relating to cosmetics in which it seems to me that even more blatant fraud is occurring. Cosmetics, particularly from Dead sea products, are very significant imports into the UK; there were 417 consignments of beauty and skincare products in 2009. I want to focus on Ahava, a firm that is part-owned by two co-operatives based at Mizpe Shalem and Kibbutz Kalia. Both are in the occupied Jordan valley and both are on the EU list of settlements. The products that Ahava produces are based on Dead sea mud, which is extracted at both those sites and processed at Mizpe Shalem. There is no evidence of any other production facilities and certainly none within Green Line Israel, although the head office is near Tel Aviv.

The Ahava website and product labels clearly give the postcode at Mizpe Shalem and then say “Israel”, which is an incorrect description. Its chief executive was totally open in a BBC interview a year or so ago about the fact that it uses the head office address, not the site of production, to justify the “Made in Israel” claim. That could not be more blatant. There is no argument about this one, and when… the firm was challenged about where its site of production was, it made no attempt to rebut its site in the occupied territories, but just waffled about how

“the Dead Sea treasures are international and do not belong to one nation”,

which was an interesting response to an HMRC request.

In answer to another written parliamentary question, HMRC confirmed that all such cosmetics- not just Ahava ones-are imported as “from Israel”. Many other companies working with Dead sea products and which are known to have their facilities in the west bank must also be using some other address to get the “Made in Israel” designation. It means that Ahava products, although labelled as “from the occupied territories”, must be designated as originating from Israel on the EUR1 form, which means that it is putting down the head office, not the site of production. Other companies that use products where the Dead sea mud and other minerals are processed or mixed with other ingredients from Israel should, on the EUR1 form, be setting out the proportions that originate from Israel and the proportion originating not from there, but from the west bank. However, they are obviously not doing that.

There is an additional issue that is beyond HMRC, which is whether Ahava and the others are violating article 55 of the Hague regulations on exporting non-renewable resources from an occupied territory. The Ahava case is so blatant that Dutch customs have now agreed to investigate after questions in Parliament from Socialist party MPs. Surprisingly, HMRC claims not to have shared any information with the Dutch authorities, which seems extraordinary. The HMRC claims to closely monitor imports, but has so far identified no cases where doubt existed over the place of production of imported cosmetics. However, it has asked the European Commission to check that the Israeli authorities are including the place of production and not the head office on the proof of origin.

aThat brings me to the role of the European Union. Apparently, UK Customs does not have the power to visit the occupied territories to check production facilities and so on, but the European Commission does. Any irregularities reported to the Commission are supposed to be disseminated to European Union member states, including information about the action taken. That does not seem to be happening in relation to Ahava or, in the German case, to BRITA.

Borelli, who lives in Seattle, used the group, which soon grew to over 200 members, to bombard Costco with messages about AHAVA. She also encouraged the group’s members to join Costco’s fan page on Facebook where they posted messages about AHAVA to be read by Costco fans.

Borelli and others received non-committal formal replies from Costco representatives for almost a month. They were undaunted and continued sending messages to the company, until finally, in the second week of January, Borelli received a reply from a company representative saying:

“These items are pending delete in our system and once they have sold they are no longer available. Your concerns have been forwarded to our corporate offices.”

A search of the Costco online store for AHAVA turns up no results. But Borelli and her team of online organizers have turned up great results for the Stolen Beauty boycott campaign with their group efforts.  No more AHAVA at Costco!

Join Rula’s “Ask Costco to remove AHAVA from their shelves” group and join the “Stolen Beauty AHAVA Boycott” Facebook group. You can follow The Stolen Beauty campaign on Twitter. Or go to Stolen Beauty for more information on our work towards a just and sustainable peace for Israelis and Palestinians.