http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_ron_gros_070419_court_ruling_gives_j.htmApril 20, 2007 at 08:15:52
Court Ruling Gives Jewish Exiles Hope and Coca-Cola Fits
by Ron Grossman Page 1 of 2 page(s)
http://www.opednews.comA little-noticed U.S. Supreme Court decision has reopened a forgotten chapter in Middle East history with far-reaching implications for the torturous, often violent politics of the region.
The court recently declined Coca-Cola Co.'s request to review a lower court's decision allowing a Canadian Jewish family to sue the soft-drink giant for trespass. The case was brought by the heirs of Joshias Bigio, a businessman in Egypt until the government expropriated his enterprises in the 1960s.
Thirty years later, Bigio's son, Refael, discovered that Coke was using one of his father's factories as part of its Egyptian bottling operations and asked for compensation. When that was not forthcoming, he filed a lawsuit—Bigio vs. The Coca-Cola Co.—in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The Bigios, who eventually settled in Canada, are Sephardim—Jews whose ancestors lived in Muslim countries for centuries before fleeing a wave of anti-Semitic violence and intimidation that began at the founding of Israel in 1948. Many had to abandon homes, businesses and life savings. The Bigio family hung on longer, heavily invested in factories and other enterprises and hoping to somehow weather the storm. "You had to leave with only five Egyptian pounds per person," said Refael Bigio. "Our family wound up eating in a soup kitchen in France."