A cup of coffee at Starbucks won’t buy access to Iran’s official Press TV website, the media outlet claims, based on a blogger.
The website, a propaganda mouthpiece for the government, was blocked at a Starbucks outlet last year, according to the blogger, named by Press TV as “N. Salem.”
He supposedly asked Press TV, “Why do you think Starbucks is blocking PressTV.com?”
“We called Starbucks to find out why certain websites would be accessible and not others, but associates didn’t offer a definitive answer,” the website reported Tuesday. It is not known if the coffee chain actually blocked access, and Press TV frequently publishes fiction as news.
It claimed that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz “has openly supported anti-Iranian Israeli policies, [and] there has been other evidence in the past that may suggest that Press TV is purposely being blocked from the American public. A user from a website named ‘General Conspiracies’ also reported a problem accessing Press TV four months ago.”
The website said it was able to access the site from its Washington, D.C. studios.
Schultz and Starbucks have previously been the targets of a hate campaign because of his statements in favor Israel.
He reportedly stated in 2002 Palestinian Authority Arab violence is “manifestation of anti-Semitism.”
The Starbucks CEO also has been negatively cited by leftists as a contributor to the Aish HaTorah Yeshiva, whose Jerusalem building is located in the Old City of Jerusalem.
A false letter dated in 2006 was attributed to Schultz, who allegedly thanked customers for helping the company to make profits and help ensuring “the continued viability and prospering of the Jewish State.” The supposed letter was later discovered to have been written by a Holocaust denier.
One hate blogger has noted that the Israeli government's praise for Schultz is proof that he is part of the “Zionist lobby.” The offensive comment by the government stated, "...the key to Israel’s long-term PR success is on the campuses of North America and Europe. Wealthy Jews like Howard Schultz, the owner of the Starbucks chain, are helping with student projects, including seminars held in both Israel and North America, in which students hear Israeli presentations on the crisis...."
Starbucks also has been chastised by leftists for having donated 50,000 pounds of free coffee to American troops in the Middle East who are "protecting Americans and our values of freedom and democracy." However, sending troops to the Middle East also benefits the Zionist cause.
The leftists’ conclusion was that “the American-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq deposed of two regimes [because they] were critical of, and opposed to, Israel.”