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Boycott?
Theres no concrete evidence that the Arab League
has blacklisted Guardian Industries.
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ublished reports in the
Jerusalem Post last week that
the Arab League boycott
office in Damascus has
placed Guardian Industries Corp. on a
blacklist have left officials at the
Auburn Hills-based company puzzled.
The Jewish News has been unable to
independently confirm an Arab League
boycott against Guardian really exists.
The blacklist, which once listed
more than 8,500 companies and peo-
ple doing business with Israel, has
been inactive for years. But after the
Arab League boycott office held an
emergency meeting in October —
their first in eight years — officials
announced they were blacklisting sev-
eral American, European and Asian
companies for having dealings with
Israel as a way to hurt the Jewish state.
However, Arab League officials refused
to name the targeted companies; it's
not clear if Guardian is actually on it.
"We can't comment upon it. We are
unaware of any [blacklist] situation," said
Gayle Joseph, spokesperson for Guardian.
The company, which produces glass for
automotive and construction industries,
has plants and partnerships in numerous
countries, including Saudi Arabia, itself a
member of the Arab League.
Guardian's president, William
Davidson, is a major supporter of Israel
and had partnered with the late
Ambassador to Norway David
Hermelin of Bingham Farms in creating
a glass plant in the Central Galilee,
Detroit Jewry's Partnership 2000 region.
Davidson, 78, of Bloomfield Hills, is
listed on the Forbes 400 list as the
85th wealthiest American, with a net
worth of more than $2 billion. He
owns the Detroit Pistons, the Palace of
Auburn Hills and the National Hockey
League's Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Arab League has not posted any
information about the boycott on its
Web site. Telephone calls to Arab
League offices in Cairo, London,
Washington and New York failed to
find anyone with knowledge of the boy-
cott or who would even confirm that it
exists. The press office at the Syrian
Mission to the United Nations also said
they had not heard of the boycott.
Cr
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Rate is effective for a limited time only and subject to change without notice.
Certain restrictions do apply.
So does it exist? The Arab League offi-
cial in Damascus who told the Associated
Press about the boycott refused to be
identified. However, a Syrian newspaper,
Al-Baath, with close connections to the
government reported that Syria has
banned Syrian firms from doing business
with Guardian. Syria was the most vocal
supporter of reviving the boycott.
"It was not immediately clear how
far the boycott would spread or
whether the boycott office would soon
make more names public from a list ...
that has remained largely secret,"
according to the AR
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman
Emmanuel Nachson said in an AP
report, "We are aware of a Syrian
effort to use economic pressure on
Israel. This effort is destined to fail."
"The boycott proposed by Syria
reflects how out of touch that coun-
try's leadership is with current world
realities," said David Gad-Harf, execu-
tive director of the Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit.
"If they truly have the interests of
their citizens at heart, instead of
engaging in meaningless threats, they
and the leaders of other Arab nations
should be welcoming foreign invest-
ment and international trade."
Larry Jackier, president of the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, said,
"The Arab boycott as a general matter is
a bankrupt and benighted policy. It did-
n't work before and I doubt that it will
work now. It may just be typical Arab
League rhetoric and not serious.
"On the other hand, doesn't it strike
•
one odd that they picked Guardian
Industries rather than their typical target?
Does it mean they are not going to buy
commercial glass? It's certainly not like
trying to boycott Motorola or Ford who
also do significant business in Israel."
The United States has banned
American companies from complying
with the boycott.
The October meeting of the Arab
League boycott office was called in anger
over the death toll in Israeli-Palestinian
clashes that spurred Arab governments
to look for ways to punish Israel. Iraq's
leader Sadda_m Hussein has called upon
the Arab League boycott office to meet
in another emergency session this month
now that the month-long Muslim holi-
day of Ramadan is over.