Young Israel Praises Scarlett Johansson For Standing With Israel

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) yesterday praised actress Scarlett Johansson for her recent show of support for the State of Israel.

Ms. Johansson was the target of criticism by Oxfam International, a humanitarian group for which she served as a global ambassador, as a result of her affiliation with SodaStream, an Israeli company that operates a large factory in Judea and Samaria. Oxfam’s displeasure with the actress resulted from its position that Israeli “settlements” are illegal and are infringing upon the rights of the Palestinians.

In response to the criticism, Ms. Johansson ended her affiliation with Oxfam.

“The National Council of Young Israel commends actress Scarlett Johansson for ending her affiliation with Oxfam over its criticism of her using SodaStream and agreeing to do a commercial supporting the product, which is made in Maale Adumim, Israel,” said NCYI President Farley Weiss. “Ms. Johansson pointedly rejected the basis of the BDS movement in her statement explaining her resignation. The National Council of Young Israel praises Ms. Johansson for standing up for what is right and resigning from her longstanding association with Oxfam.”

Johansson was born in New York City on November 22, 1984. Her father, Karsten Johansson, is a Danish-born architect originally from Copenhagen. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, a producer, comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family from the Bronx. Sloan’s ancestors emigrated to New York from Minsk, Tsarist Russi

Johansson grew up in a household with little money and she and her brother, Hunter, attended P.S. 41 in the upper-middle-class Greenwich Village neighborhood, in Manhattan, for elementary school.

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