Dive Brief:

• Harvard University is backing off its dining hall boycott of controversial SodaStream water machines, which are made by an Israeli company in the West Bank and viewed by some as supporting settlements there that are objectionable to Palestinians.
• The SodaStream machine ban was implemented by the university’s dining hall services after Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee and the Harvard Islamic Society said they were offended, the Washington Post reported.
• Harvard’s president learned of the ban from the school’s student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, and called for an investigation.

Dive Insight:

A fairly predictable lineup of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups have lined up against each other on the Harvard SodaStream controversy. Dining services apologized, after the investigation was initiated, for mistakenly considering political concerns in its purchasing. But, the Post points out, it took a similar stance in 2013 when it boycotted Barilla pasta because of anti-gay comments by the company’s chairman.