The Jewish Voice
MAY 11, 2012
INTERNATIONAL
PAGE 7
Egyptian-Jewish Businessman Files for Rehearing in Lawsuit Against Coca-Cola Bigio family,” “continues to bottle C oca-Cola products in Egypt,” and that C oca-Cola “profits fr om sales of syrup and lic ensing ag reements to Coca-Cola Egypt.” The panel none theless dismissed the case on the g round that the Bigios’ complaint did not contain sufficient evidence that Coca-Cola in the United States “caused or directed” Coca-Cola Egypt. In the petition f or a rehearing, Nathan Lewin maintained that the panel should not ha ve required the Bigios to recite details that could only be obtained in discovery. In the past, C oca-Cola has made the outrageous claim that Nasser ’s nationalization of Jewish pr operty, including that of the Bigios’, was legal and did not violat e international law. Coca-Cola claimed that the Egyptian go vernment, ther efore, held the Bigios’ pr operty “as of right ” and the go vernment could legally c onvey title t o CocaCola. Big ios’ att orneys argued that Nasser ’s anti-Jewish purge was clearly a violation of international law, and Coca-Cola, which had conducted business with the Big ios and leased the pr operty prior t o the pur ge, was fully aware that the pr operty had been st o-
By JV Staff mbarking upon his fifteenth year of battling a major c orporate adversary – the Coca-Cola C ompany, which is allegedly utilizing his family ’s pr operty just outside Cairo which was expr opriated by Egyptian P resident G amel Nasser during one of Nasser’s anti- Jewish pur ges – dispossessed Egyptian-Jewish businessman R aphael Bigio has filed a petition f or a rehearing of the case by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. According to famed attorney Nathan Lewin, who is r epresenting Big io, the C oca-Cola Company has steadfastly refused to bargain
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Famed attorney Nathan Lewin is seeking to redress Coca-Cola’s decades-long injustice against an Egyptian-Jewish family.
Is Coca Coca’s success in Egypt thanks, in part, to Egyptian anti-Semitism?
in good faith or t o negotiate fair compensation for the expropriated property, although Coca-Cola has r eaped hundr eds of millions of dollars in pr ofits fr om the operations of
“Coca-Cola Egypt.” In March, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit dismissed the case on the ground that the Bigios’ complaint did not sufficiently allege that C oca-Cola’s headquar ters in the U.S. c ontrolled “Coca-Cola E gypt.” I n their petition f or r ehearing, the Big ios’ att orneys noted that the supposedly missing detailed facts r egarding C oca-Cola’s int ernal operations could only be pr oved by evidence exclusively in C oca-Cola’s files . The la wyers stressed that the panel dismissed the Big ios’ case “before C oca-Cola ev en answ ered the complaint and plaintiff s were given any opportunity f or disc overy.” A ccording t o the petition for rehearing, the pleading standard applied b y the C ourt of Appeals c onflicts with the standar d set b y the U .S. Supr eme Court and followed by the First, Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits. The Big ios allege that C oca-Cola has been mak ing millions of dollars annually in profits b y exploiting , thr ough “Coca-Cola Egypt,” pr operty that C oca-Cola had , be fore 1965, leased fr om the Big io family. The property was c onfiscated b y the E gyptian
» Lewin: “Our story is one of flagrant abuse, first by an antiJewish government, then by a greedy corporate Goliath.” government in Nasser’s anti-Jewish program of religious persecution, and it was used b y a government-owned company called ENBC that purpor tedly leased it fr om a go vernment-owned insurance company. Coca-Cola took control of the property in 1994 – over the Bigio family’s objection – b y purchasing a substantial int erest in ENBC, which was promptly renamed “Coca-Cola Egypt.” For the past 17 y ears C oca-Cola has “stonewalled” the Big io family ’s effort to obtain fair c ompensation, and – sinc e 1997 – it has successfully blocked the family’s litigation from advancing bey ond its initial stage . The three-judge panel that dismissed the case acknowledged that the Bigios’ complaint adequately established that ENBC tr espassed on the Bigios’ property. The panel noted that Coca-Cola Egypt “has constructed additional buildings on the land formerly owned by the
Aussie Governor Bakes Biscuits for Charity at Sydney Kosher Kitchen By Joshua Runyan ew South Wales Gov. Marie Bashir presided o ver a meeting of S ydney Univ ersity’s chaplainc y and student-run I nterfaith C ouncil at the “Our Big Kitchen” project of the Australian city’s Yeshiva Centre. Bashir, who also ser ves as the university’s chanc ellor, donned an apr on and joined att endees in the cr owded kosher kitchen to bake Anzac biscuits; proceeds fr om the on- campus sale of the biscuits pr ovide financial assistance to underprivileged students. “Sydney Univ ersity has a pr oud r ecord of int erfaith dialogue and c oop-
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eration,” said Rabbi Eli Feldman, the university’s Jewish chaplain and director of the Young A dult Chabad pr ogram run under the aeg is of the Yeshiva C entre. “The chancellor, chaplains and students … were very excited to visit the kitchen and work together for a good cause.” Visibly mo ved b y the oc casion, the governor t old att endees, “I nev er f eel more at home than when I am her e at Our Big K itchen. The spirit of friendship and harmony bet ween members of all faiths c oming t ogether f or a c ommon good makes me immensely proud.” Rabbinical leaders and go vernment officials fr om acr oss the political spectrum also attended. REPORT COURTESY OF CHABAD.ORG
len from the family without compensation. “The full r oster of S econd Circuit Judges will surely see that the panel’s clearly erroneous decision is g rossly unjust and r ewards Coca-Cola f or litigation tac tics that c onceal the r ole that its highest c orporate offic ers played in exploiting pr operty c onfiscated from its o wners only because they ar e Jewish,” said Nathan Lewin. “Our family has alwa ys c onsidered the United Stat es as an example of right eousness in this w orld,” Refael Big io not ed. “Our story is one of flagrant abuse, first by an antiJewish government, then by a greedy corporate Goliath. We hope and pray that our case will demonstrate that regardless of who you are, y ou will be judged in ac cordance with your deeds and not b y what you pretend to be. We have faith that justice can and will ultimately be found in the USA.”
Tunisian Jews under increased threat since revolution Tunisian Jew s ar e bec oming c oncerned about the increased level of anti-S emitic violence, lawlessness and racism in the c ountry sinc e its r evolution that kicked off the Arab Spring last y ear. Jewish relationships with Muslims in the c ountry are becoming more strained. Though less than 1,800 Jew s still liv e in Tunisia, they ha ve been in the r egion sinc e the time of the Roman Empire. Since Tunisia’s revolution ousted Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, unc ertainty has been g rowing for all—including Jew s, ac cording t o r eports. S everal anti-Semitic incidents ha ve oc curred, including the burning of a synagogue in the cit y of Ghabes in February 2011. “We are not afraid of Salafis who talk t oo much. We’re afraid of those who say nothing, then do something,” said David Bitan, a Djerba Jew. JOINTMEDIA NEWS SERVICE