After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the residents of Gaza to return hostages to Israel in the wake of the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and promised that Israel would allow those who do so to leave the Gaza Strip safely, the former CEO of Sodastream is also joining the effort to bring them home. In a video published on Saturday, Daniel Birnbaum offered a cash reward of $100,000 to whoever returns Israeli living hostages.
"This is a message for the good people in Gaza. I have an offer for you. My name is Daniel Birnbaum, and I was CEO and chairman of Sodastream International, a Nasdaq-traded company acquired by PepsiCo," Birnbaum said in the video. "This year was a terrible year. It's time to wrap things up. It's time to move on."
"A few days ago, Benjamin Netanyahu promised free passage and immunity to anyone who delivers an Israeli hostage to Israel. I would like to add to that a financial reward. Anyone in Gaza who returns a living Israeli hostage , will receive $100,000. That would be paid either by cash or by Bitcoin, as you prefer," he offered.
"Don't wait. This offer is valid until Wednesday midnight, October 24, just a few days. Reach out to this number by Telegram or Whatsapp in confidence and I will make the appropriate connections to assure your free passage and reward money so don't wait. It's time for you to take control of your life, to build a future for yourself, for your family, and for your community," he added.
Birnbaum told Ynet he is receiving a flood of calls, including calls from Gaza, but their reliability is still unclear. He is passing the calls to an IDF official who will verify their authenticity. In the video, he chose to speak in English because he thought that maybe an American would be believed more than an Israeli. Birnbaum is ready to pay the required amount from his pocket even if reliable information about dozens of hostages arrives. He said that the payment is his contribution to the release of the hostages.
In his years as CEO of Sodastream, Birnbaum empowered and promoted Palestinian workers in the company as a long-term goal. He believed in cooperation and cared for their well-being in a way that was hardly seen elsewhere. On several occasions, Birnbaum held communal Ramadan Iftar meals (meals for breaking the daily fasts) for Jewish and Muslim employees, promoting friendship and peace.
Birnbaum said in response to the question of whether he still believes in coexistence, for which he worked with all his might, that he is holding on to twigs of hope and optimism to continue believing in coexistence. It is very difficult for him, he says, because the world proves otherwise, but according to him we don't have a choice.
Right now, Birnbaum says there is a time to love and a time to hate and a time to fight and a time for peace and now, in the last year, it is the time for war. He said that In times of war, you have to fight and at some point, you have to change the track, but we don't change the track until we return the hostages. He knows Israel will not heal as a people and will not be able to move on unless the hostages return.
Birnbaum, who served as CEO and chairman of the Sodastream company before it was sold to PepsiCo, is said to be an "expert in aligning global trends and values with business interests." During his successful tenure, Sodastream went public and was sold to PepsiCo in 2018 for $3.2 billion. For the sale, he was promised a $34 million bonus in exchange for staying with the company for another three years. He later was accused of giving inside information to a company employee, and was sentenced to a month in prison as part of a plea deal. Finally, he spent 22 days in prison after being pardoned by President Isaac Herzog.
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