BOYCOTT RATING

Not all companies on the boycott list are the same in their level support for Israel - some are far worse than others. The idea of introducing the "Boycott Rating" is to give at a quick glace some indication of which companies are the worst.

Its a feature that has been requested for a long time, but one which we hesitated to implement. By its very nature its not an exact science - often we are comparing apples to oranges. Its certainly no substitute for reading the research on the companies, but never the less we felt it was a useful indicator and have now implemented it.

In calculating the rating we have taken in to account the following factors:

• Economic support: Is the company Israeli? Does it invest in Israel? Is it a major investor - and hence a winner of the Jubilee Award? Does it invest in the "Occupied Territories"?

• Political Support: Does the company or its owners give political support to Israel? If so, what level of support?

• Links to Military: Does the company or owners have links to the Israeli Military? How strong are these links?
  

Apart from these core factors, occasionally other special factors have also had an influence on the ratings.

Soon we will be publishing the ratings for all the companies. In the meantime, a couple of examples to illustrate what a rating score indicates:

:	A non-israeli company which invests in Israel will score a rating of 1.
:	A non-israeli company invests in Israel and has received a Jubilee Award from Israel (an indication of the size of the investment and its importance to Israel). The company has also been caught investing in the Occupied Territories (in the illegal settlements). It will score a rating of 4.