The head of one of the largest telecommunications firms in Israel has caved to BDS (boycott, divest & sanction) pressure and plans to dump Israel after first pleading with leaders of the movement for understanding of his position.
The French chairman and CEO of the Orange telecommunications company, Stephane Richard, told journalists Wednesday in Cairo he would be glad to cut ties with Israel.
“Believe me, I would cancel the contract tomorrow if I could,” he was quoted as saying, as reported by Daily News Egypt. However, the firm’s contract with its Israeli operator, Partner Communications, precludes that option.
“We didn’t renew the contract; we wanted to change the terms of the contract and include a termination date since one did not previously exist, and therefore gave us no possibility of leaving the deal.
“We want to end this and to fix this; we don’t want it,” Richard said. In the existing contract, it gives us the option to terminate this without exposing this to a huge financial risk. If you were the CEO of this company, you would do the same.”
Orange has been subjected to intense pressure by “human rights” organizations hoping to force it to pull out as a protest against the presence of Israel in Judea, Samaria and parts of Jerusalem restored to the capital in the 1967 Six Day War.