June 21, 2009.
MEMRI has released an English transcript of an address given by a Muslim
religious leader in Egypt this past February, in which he explains that PEPSI is
actually an acronym for “Pay Every Penny to Save Israel.” Egyptian cleric
Hazem Abu Ismail, speaking on Al Nas TV – a Muslim religious channel in Egypt
that provides Islamic programming for Muslim Muftis – Abu Ismail all but called
for a Muslim boycott of Pepsi because it stands for ‘Pay Every Penny Saving
Israel.’
Abu Ismail said a penny is “one-thousandth of a dollar.”
Specifically Hazem Ismail said as follows (transcript provided by MEMRI,
the Washington based Middle East Media Research Institute):
“Do you know what the word “Pepsi” means? Pepsi as in P-E-P-S-I. The first P
stands for “Pay.” E stands for “Every.” The third letter stands for “Penny.” A
penny means any small coin you receive and don’t know what to do with. Pay
it to “Saving” I – “Israel.”
In other words, pay every small coin you receive in order to save Israel.
They don’t want money from you – they want your small change, your pennies.
If I’m not mistaken, in American economics, a penny is one-thousandth of the
dollar. It’s not even worth a piaster. It’s only a millime. At least I think it’s
worth a millime, not even a piaster.
They say: “Donate the small change you don’t need, but give it to the right
cause. If you collect small change, you can buy this drink.” They took the first
letter of each word – “Pay Every Penny Saving Israel” – and they formed the
word “Pepsi.” When you pay [to buy Pepsi], you are saving Israel. I am not
talking about Pepsi, but about Coca Cola and all of them. I don’t want to
specify the products.
See for yourselves. You are Muslims. You can tell me. I don’t know. My
little son knows more about the boycott than me. When we go shopping, he
says to me: “Buy this, don’t buy that.” He knows them by heart. He has
become an expert in this.”
In addition, a member of the Hamas terrorist organization’s parliament in Gaza
made similar accusations against Pepsi last year. Speaking with official Hamas
TV station Al-Aqsa TV on April 23, 2008, Hamas MP Salem Salamah said:
“There are companies established by the colonialists and occupiers –
large companies with branches all over the world, like Pepsi, Pepsi Cola. This is
a well-known company. Pepsi is an acronym. P-E-P-S-I – Pay Every Pence to
Save Israel. Pay every pence – pence is one-hundredth of a dollar – to save
Israel. Pay every pence to save Israel.”
