A (Small) Victory for Capitalism – and Israel

David Halper
The Weekly Standard
06 December '10

Mark this down as another win for capitalism – and Israel, too. Recently, on the Princeton University campus, a student-led referendum sought to urge “Dining Services to provide an alternative brand to Sabra hummus in retail locations on campus,” according to the Daily Princetonian. The measure failed by a vote of 1,014 to 699.

The student daily reports:

Yoel Bitran ’11, president of the Princeton Committee on Palestine, which sponsored the referendum, said in an e-mail that he was excited by the high amount of student support despite the referendum’s defeat. “The main goal of this initiative was to raise awareness about Sabra and its association to Israel’s human rights violations,” he said. “In that sense we have been extremely successful.” Bitran added that PCP still hopes to convince the University to provide an alternative hummus.

PCP had sponsored the referendum as part of a larger boycott campaign against The Strauss Group, which owns 50 percent of Sabra Dipping Company and has financially and publicly supported the Golani Brigade of the Israeli Defense Forces. Members of the brigade have been accused of human rights abuses against Palestinians.

It’s a victory for capitalism because, well, there just aren’t too many other brands of mass-produced hummus as tasty as Sabra’s. A vote against Sabra would’ve been a vote, most likely, for an inferior brand of hummus.

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