You can ignore the rest of this post (but the one below it is much more important anyway)
Debbie Schlussel (don't know where she writes, but I got this from Naomi Regan via my wife) received the following email from a reader:
Dear Debbie:
A friend of mine has a son learning in the Gush in Israel. She wanted to send him a package. She called UPS about shipping her package to Gush Yeshiva [DS: A yeshiva is a Jewish academy] in the Gush Etzion. UPS told her they do not deliver packages beyond the green line. He would have to go the Jerusalem to pick it up. My friend asked if they deliver packages to Ramalla. The reply was yes. After further research for a delivery service she called DHL, they had no problem taking her package and delivering it to her son.
Are you aware of this? Why won't UPS deliver in all areas of the State of Israel?
Sincerely,
Ruth G.
Baltimore, MD
So Debbie did some research...
Last night, I called UPS to verify this, and, in fact it is true. Not only is it true, but UPS will not recognize even parts of Israel that are within the "Green Line," such as the Golan Heights. A man from UPS read me the following statement (which is not on the UPS website--perhaps they are too cowardly to acknowledge this online):Security Reasons? Try Left-wing political agenda...reasons. Not to deliver to the West Bank Jewish communities, but to deliver to Palestinian communities in the West Bank? What are they worried about?
UPS service is provided to and from most addresses within Israel and the Palestine [sic] Authority area, except for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a few remote areas in the Golan Heights, and the Southern Negev desert.
I asked the UPS employee if I could send a package to "Palestinian" areas of the West Bank. He said yes. I asked him if I could send a package to Ramallah. He said yes. I asked him if I could send a package to Arab areas in the Golan Heights. Again, the answer was "YES."
I asked the man why UPS would not deliver to Jewish areas of these regions.
He responded, "for security reasons. It's dangerous there."
I asked the UPS employee how it could possibly be safer in the streets of Ramallah, where Fatah and HAMAS terrorists are killing each other and Westerners, daily, than it was in Gush Etzion. "I don't know. I just work here. I don't set policy," was the response.
Since UPS won't deliver to Jewish areas, I suggest you send your packages via DHL, which has no such phony "security" problems. And tell your friends and family, too. And tell UPS that Jameel is sponsoring the boycott - that should really confuse them!
(Ironically, DHL is German-owned; UPS is supposed to be American.)
Can you say, catch-22?
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
20 comments:
I wouldn't ship anything to Israel other than through the regular postal service, but this is absolutely insane!
Disgusting!Shame on these 'poor policied' companies!
I was just discussing this el-al situation with my sis this morn..
she uses el al frequently and is suppose to be going to NY in Jan...but now with the rabbonim saying...that El -Al has lost its 'special shemira' - because they flew on Shabbos...she feels like booking on another airline...
btw - nice pic next to your sign off sentence!
Hey, I got this story up too. Listen, consumerism and capitalism are the mother of all equalizers. This is going to hurt UPS a hell of a lot more than it'll hurt the Yids of Israel. God bless capitalism.
-OC
That's just so . . . odd! For financial reasons, like the old situation with Coke and Pepsi, I can at least understand. (Why did the cola company situation change anyway? I still think of Pepsi as goyishe after all these years.)
But security reasons? In the Jewish areas but not the Arab areas? And in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria? That's a bunch of camel dung.
It's a shame. I've been brand-loyal to UPS since I was young, though I typically have only used USPS as an adult.
As for the El Al situation . . . Did they have little choice because something prevented them from getting everything done before Shabbat? Did they only finish up flights in transit or did they start new flights? What did they do about observant staff? If it was a special situation, can they build in safeguards to avoid such problems in the future? Are they planning on continuing to willfully operate on Shabbat?
It makes me sad. I always felt so much pride but also simply thought it made sense that the airline of Israel did not fly on Shabbat and served kosher meals.
A problem with a boycott, however, is safety, isn't it? I would never feel comfortable traveling to or from Israel on an airline other than El Al.
UPS Explains Limited Yesha Policies
Jameel:
Debbie Schlussel is a lawyer, Republican activist, conservative commentator/blogger, and very sharp mind from SE Michigan. Her blog can be found at:
http://debbieschlussel.com
It's good reading.
On a funny side note, I went to the same High School as she did... Small world, huh?
Oy Vey. Poor UPS.
Here they are trying to fix a mistake and they are getting blasted.
They are in the middle of a pilot program at some of the Yishuvim, where they use subcontractors to not only deliver the packages, but even pick them up from your home.
In fact they have been delivering to some other Yishuvim for a while.
This article is one big mistake.
In fact UPS is much more reliable than the post office.
What about Fedex? I haven't called them to verify, but their website lists Israel as a country served with no asterisk for "Some service restrictions apply." like some other places. And as one poster mentioned USPS is certainly a viable option and almost always a LOT cheaper.
Kol Tuv,
Ari
the reaction to a misunderstanding may be similar to the misunderstanding regarding credit card rental car insurance. some cards no longer cover your insurance on car rentals in israel. everyone at first thought this was d/t left-wingism. but they claim it is due to high theft rates, and thus they also do not cover jamaica, ireland and some other places as well.
anonymous:
"Why did the cola company situation change anyway?"
the initial absence of coke in israel may have been due more to the israeli government's ineptitude than to a-s. after that it was all a-s. coke claimed that israel's market was too small. but in the mid-60s people complained because cyprus, with an even smaller market, had a bottling plant. the adl got involved, jewish botcotts loomed, and the rest is history
as an aside: on one arab who manipulated (i.e. lied) about the history of coke in the region, see my letter to zahi koury at http://agmk.blogspot.com/2006/10/my-letters-in-wall-street-journal.html
Ari- FedEx deliver wherever: They all do. Jameel- maybe cross out the post entirely?
Tafka: I'd rather leave up my apology...I think I will use "strike out" on the rest of the post. Good idea.
(I'm trying to be a responsible blogger!)
I dutifully ignored it.
I have had FedEx ask me to allow them to deliver packages to my Jerusalem office rather than Shiloh implying but not saying that they don't come out here. Since I'm a nice guy (and wanted to get my mail), I never challenged them on it.
Ari,
Thank you for the information and the pointer to the interesting post on your site.
So, before the mid-60s, were neither Coke nor Pepsi available in Israel?
See, I grew up with Coke being available but a Hebrew Pepsi bottle being a collector's item. I was taught that Coke was aligned with Israel while Pepsi was aligned with the Arabs.
It's funny; even though I later learned that the situation may not have been that simple (though I do not know to what your mention of the initial cause having possibly been goverment ineptitude refers and am hoping you'll elaborate) and even though Pepsi now does business in Israel, I have continued to not be able to help thinking: Coke good, Pepsi bad.
So, anyway, I should clarify that I meant, what caused the change that saw Pepsi enter the market (in I think the 90s)?
Coke tastes better than Pepsi.
Next up at the Muqata:
Take the Pepsi Challenge. Jameel with be there with the requisite blindfolds and cameras. Anyone who passes the test gets to sample the Belgian Waffles.
The real question is: will Jameel try to slip in some of his olive oil into one of the bottles as a taste test?
I took the Pepsi Challenge at a shopping mall in 1982. I chose Coke!
Jameel should serve Israeli Waffles.
People actually do taste olive oil at olive oil tastings like people taste wine at wine tastings.
Regarding Pepsi in Israel, there use to be bumper stickers here in the US that read.
"Dont Buy Pepsi. Pepsi sells to Russia. Russia sells Jews"
alluding of course to the cost of getting refusniks out as the USSR considered them traitor and therefore should pay mother Russia back for all their free education etc.
I never thought Tempo was all that bad though.
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