New Tel Aviv bar bans IDF soldiers in uniform, settlement products

Hagai Matar, City Mouse (Haaretz - June 24, 2009)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1094506.html

A new vegan bar opened last week in Tel Aviv that bans Israel Defense Forces soldiers in uniform and boycotts products made in West Bank settlements.

The Rogatka - "slingshot" - bar was opened by an "anarchist collective" who once ran the Salon Mazal bar; it is located on Yitzhak Sadeh street in central Tel Aviv.

The new ideologically-devoted bar will not seek to make a profit, and the founders say they hope it will bring together left-wing activists, environmentalists, and other fellow travellers, under the banner of cheap drinks and fair trade products.

The bar's ban on soldiers in uniform and the carrying of weapons, along with its boycott on products made in the settlements, derive from what employees see as the connection between all forms of oppression, from the slaughter of animals to sexism to occupation.

"We can't hold views against discrimination and oppression, while at the same time support the infrastructure that exploits human beings and other animals," said Adi Vinter, one of the bar's founders.

"We wanted to show it's possible and even worthwhile to live differently," Vinter added.