I got a Sodastream as a present a couple of years ago.

It was a great gift. Everybody who knows me knows I drink a lot of plain club soda. This gadget allows you to make your own (and not just plain club soda either; all kinds of flavors and types of soda—which of course I never drink).

Whether it’s cheaper than buying soda in bottles or not is a lengthy argument (I think it is cheaper, unless you get the lowest budget soda at the store, which is usually flat and bad), but it’s certainly way more convenient. All you have to do is get a refill when it runs out, which are available at many venues. Best of all, no more hauling bottles home, or the empties to recycling. Your groceries become so much lighter. And when you run out of your favorite carbonated beverage after hours—why, just make another bottle.

But on top of all those reasons to buy a Sodastream, now there’s another. I hadn’t known this before, but the company is an Israeli one, and, predictably, all the self-righteous leftist friends of the PLO would like you to boycott it. In an unintentional but predictable irony, this seems to be in part because the Israeli firm hires Palestinians to work in its plant—and of course, as the capitalist pig fat cats they are, therefore exploits the poor workers. The following is an excerpt from an NPR piece on the situation:

In a company- produced video, SodaStream’s Daniel Birnbaum describes his firm as a boon to the residents of the occupied West Bank.

DANIEL BIRNBAUM, CEO, SODASTREAM: We give them an opportunity ”“ not only to have a job and health insurance ”“ but also social benefits and a very high pay scale, which they could never achieve in the West Bank.

ABRAMSON [of NPR]: But the Palestinian Authority says factories, like SodaStream’s, help support what they see as Israel’s illegal occupation of West Bank land. Israeli groups that oppose settlement activity agree.

Rona Moran, with the Coalition of Women for Peace, based in Tel Aviv, says SodaStream and other settlement businesses weaken the Palestinian economy.

RONA MARTIN, COALITION OF WOMEN FOR PEACE: And all of the work in this factory is actually benefitting from exploiting Palestinian workers as cheap labor and Palestinian land for the establishment of the factory, and enjoys benefits and funding from the Israeli government.

So folks, your work is clear. Buy Sodastream! You’ll be purchasing a good product, supporting an Israeli business, and at the same time helping that Israeli company actually help some Palestinians help themselves for a change. Win/win/win.

Oh—and, if you purchase it through my Amazon portal or a click-through here, you’ll also be giving neo-neocon a little boost.

[Hat tip: BenK at Ace’s.]