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Israeli leaders are asking states to sanction Ben & Jerry's after Palestinian boycott

WOODLAND PARK, N.J. — Israeli leaders are asking states including New Jersey to sanction Ben & Jerry’s and its Englewood Cliffs-based parent company after the ice cream maker announced this week that it would no longer do business in occupied Palestinian territory.

The July 19 statement on the Ben & Jerry’s website set off a national debate over a growing boycott movement and laws that New Jersey and 34 other states have passed to push back. The laws call for divesting and restricting business with companies or individuals that support any boycott aimed at Israel and its West Bank settlements.

New Jersey’s law, adopted five years ago, requires that state pension funds divest from pro-boycott businesses.

“The Division of Investment is aware of the situation and is working to determine whether any actions must be taken to ensure continued compliance with the state’s anti-BDS law," Jennifer Sciortino, director of communications for the state Treasury, said in an email Friday.

Some Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream pints have been recalled due to undeclared tree nuts.
Some Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream pints have been recalled due to undeclared tree nuts.

Gov. Phil Murphy "was disappointed in the decision by Ben and Jerry’s,” press secretary Alyana Alfaro Post said in a separate statement Thursday. “The governor believes we must continue working toward the shared goal of peace and mutual respect.”

The law puts New Jersey in a bind. Lawmakers voted for it with near-unanimous support in 2016, but now the consequences could be felt by one of the state’s big employers. Unilever plc, the British conglomerate that owns Ben & Jerry's, runs its U.S. operations out of a 321,000-square-foot campus in Englewood Cliffs where it employs 1,600 people.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he warned the company and its CEO of “serious consequences, including legal,” over the ice cream maker’s actions.

Unilever responded in a statement Monday: “We remain fully committed to our presence in Israel, where we have invested in our people, brands and business for several decades,” wrote the company, which owns hundreds of consumer brands including Dove, Lipton, Hellman’s and Vaseline.

“Ben & Jerry’s was acquired by Unilever in 2000. As part of the acquisition agreement, we have always recognized the right of the brand and its independent board to take decisions about its social mission. We also welcome the fact that Ben & Jerry’s will stay in Israel.”

Ben & Jerry’s, a Vermont company founded by two Jewish Americans, is known for taking stances on social justice issues. It said it will continue operating in Israel but will stop sales in controversial West Bank settlements and areas of east Jerusalem.

“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the company wrote. “We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners.”

'Inconsistent with our values': Ben & Jerry's plans to end ice cream sales in Occupied Palestinian Territory after backlash

But the decision has angered supporters of the Israeli government, who likened the move to antisemitism and said it tries to "de-legitimize" Israel. Some kosher supermarkets have pulled it off shelves.

Dani Secemski, the owner of Glatt Express in Teaneck, said Ben & Jerry’s, a kosher-certified product, was yanked from the freezer section.

He decried the decision, he said, to boycott the most "free and democratic country in the Middle East, while continuing to sell in countries with atrocious human rights records."

“To single out Israel, the only Jewish state, and to attack its sovereignty can only be characterized as antisemitic," Secemski said.

In a letter to 35 states, including New Jersey, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Gilad Erdan, asked for sanctions, saying “rapid and determined action must be taken to counter such discriminatory and antisemitic actions.”

But progressive groups, including some Jewish organizations, have supported calls for businesses to stop operating in settlements. They say that will increase international pressure on Israel to end its occupation and to stop the expansion of settlements they view as a major obstacle to peace.

The settlements have fueled Palestinian land seizure and human rights abuses and restricted freedom of movement for non-Jews, say critics and leaders of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. BDS leaders say it is modeled after the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

On Thursday, the Texas comptroller directed his staff to investigate whether Ben & Jerry's and Unilever should be placed on a list of banned businesses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also called for the businesses to be added to the state's "Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel List."

There is precedent in New Jersey for enforcing the law. In 2018, the state divested from Danske Bank after it refused to do business with a pair of Israeli defense companies, Elbit Systems and Aryt Industries.

The Danish company said it was not boycotting Israel but had a list of companies that it said “do not meet the requirements of responsible investment principles.”

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, said any sanctions against American companies were unlikely to stand up in court.

In previous cases in Georgia, Texas and Arkansas, courts have ruled against states trying to enforce laws that punish boycott supporters or those who refuse to sign an anti-boycott pledge, citing free-speech concerns. Those laws were more restrictive than New Jersey’s, but Zogby thinks New Jersey's also wouldn't pass muster.

“We’ve never lost a case in court yet,” Zogby said. “If they do enforce it, they will be stricken by the court because it is patently unconstitutional.”

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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ben & Jerry's ice cream up against NJ anti-BDS law, Israeli leaders