The lawsuit against Golda gets complicated: Is Abir Kara revealing the truth?
The former Knesset member comes to the defense of the well-known ice cream chain in the shadow of a 350 million shekel class-action lawsuit, and sharply attacks the reports: "The economic press has already held a trial and convicted."
Abir Kara addressed on the X network the 350 million shekel lawsuit filed against the Golda ice cream chain, and came to the defense of the company and its owners. In a long post he published, Kara attacked the way he claims the affair was covered in the economic media, and argued that a smear campaign has been conducted against the chain over the last few days.
According to him, Golda currently employs about 5,000 workers and is a significant factor in the Israeli economy. Kara said that two brothers from southern Tel Aviv, together with their mother Anita, whom he said he knew in his youth and learned to make ice cream from, built the chain from scratch and turned it into an Israeli success.
Kara also addressed the claims at the center of the legal proceeding, and in particular the claim regarding the amount of sugar in the product. According to him, no sugar was added to the ice cream in relation to which the lawsuit was filed, but rather it is a product marketed as ice cream with no added sugar.
In the post, Kara explained that milk contains lactose, which is a sugar found naturally in milk. According to him, the figure that a sugar amount 13 times higher was found in the product refers to a comparison to the threshold required for labeling a product as "sugar-free", and not necessarily to the fact that sugar was added to the ice cream.
"That's the story. That's all," wrote Kara, while emphasizing the difference he claims exists between the labeling "sugar-free ice cream" and "no added sugar".
Further on, Kara also addressed the identity of the plaintiff and the circumstances of the test, as they appear according to him in the statement of claim. According to him, the plaintiff is Sol Yarkoni, the spouse of the lawyer Yarkoni who filed the proceeding, and according to what is alleged in the statement of claim, she usually adheres to a ketogenic diet. Kara claimed that she purchased the product, became suspicious regarding the sugar content, and sent it for testing in a laboratory.
According to Kara, the test found sugars originating from the lactose in the milk and not from sugar added to the product. However, these are claims raised by Kara regarding the legal proceeding, and a decision on the disputed issues is up to the court.
Kara emphasized that the very approval of the lawsuit as a class action does not indicate that the lawsuit has been accepted or that the sum of 350 million shekels will be awarded. According to him, even if it is determined that a mistake was made, the volume of sales of the product and the size of the group that was allegedly harmed must be examined before the extent of the damage can be determined.
"Lawyer Yarkoni and his spouse will have to wait a little longer to retire," wrote Kara, and added that the facts, according to him, will be clarified in court.
At the end of the post, Kara again attacked the media coverage of the affair. "Meanwhile, the economic press has already held a trial, convicted, and sentenced," he wrote. According to him, it is possible to criticize businesses and even sue them when a suspicion of a violation of the law arises, but one must wait for a judicial decision and not present the claimed amount as if it were money that has already been awarded.
