After the company said it would no longer sell its ice cream in the occupied territories, New Jersey invoked a law that prohibits public investments in companies that engage in boycotts…
The state’s Division of Investment sent a letter this week to Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s whose American headquarters are in New Jersey, explaining that a state law passed in 2016 prohibited the investment of state pension funds in businesses that engaged in boycotts.
To my knowledge, all of the states with similar laws have only used it against firms boycotting Israel.
The move came as a response to Ben & Jerry’s announcement in mid-July that it would stop selling its products in the occupied Palestinian territories. “We believe it is inconsistent with our values for our product to be present within an internationally recognised illegal occupation,” the company said on its website.
I’m only a still small voice and my healthful regimen doesn’t include ice cream. Nevertheless, next grocery shopping, I will buy some Ben & Jerry’s. I will enjoy it. And maybe I’ll email an iPhone snap of the empty container to the Attorney General of the Garden State.
Imprisonment of Children (December 2017): https://www.addameer.org/the_prisoners/children
“ADDAMEER (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons.”
Palestinian children traumatized by Israeli home invasions : Rights groups and medical advocates say that Israeli raids are having a dire effect on the mental health of Palestinian children. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/23/palestinian-children-left-traumtised-by-israeli-home-invasions
A report titled A Life Exposed published late last year by three Israeli human rights organizations – Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Yesh Din and Breaking the Silence – documented the grievous mental health repercussions, including on children, of Israeli raids on Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank.
Citing the report, alongside other research, an editorial in the BMJ Paediatrics Open journal published last week said that the way the home invasions are conducted is a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – which Israel has ratified.
“Home invasions by the Israeli military are characterized by unjustifiable and excessive use of force, arbitrariness, unpredictability and frequency, leaving families and individuals vulnerable to the decisions of soldiers, who hold immense power,” the editorial stated.
“They inflict psychological damage on both individuals and communities, as they involve a sudden, forced intrusion into the victims’ private space along with a real threat of physical harm.”
The editorial also said that the forcible home invasions come amid already high levels of trauma, citing research that suggested the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among children living in the occupied West Bank is estimated to be 34.1 percent to 50.4 percent, compared with an average of 6.8 percent to 12.2 percent worldwide.
BMJ Paediatrics Open: “Mental health impact on children of forcible home invasions in the occupied Palestinian territory” https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/bmjpo/5/1/e001062.full.pdf
● “Florida to pull $139 million in Ben & Jerry’s investments over Israel boycott” https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-to-pull-139-million-in-ben-jerrys-investments-over-israel-boycott/
● “Arizona to end investment in Ben & Jerry’s parent company after ice cream sales decision” https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2021/09/08/arizona-anti-israel-boycott-law-leads-to-disinvestment-unilever-ben-and-jerrys/5760912001/
● “Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has designated Ben & Jerry’s as a company that boycotts Israel under a law that forbids state investments in firms that take adverse action against the U.S. ally.” https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/09/23/texas-designates-ben-jerrys-company-boycotts-israel/5835078001/ Ben & Jerry’s insisted that it was not boycotting Israel, noting that it will continue doing business in the nation, though not in the West Bank or parts of contested East Jerusalem, after its current licensing agreement expires at the end of 2022.
● “Now Ben & Jerry’s Finds Itself Facing a Real Boycott : The latest Ben & Jerry’s headache isn’t settlers switching to Häagen-Dazs but U.S. states divesting Unilever stock. The law that requires them to do that is absurd” (Haaretz, Israel) https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-now-ben-jerry-s-finds-itself-facing-a-real-boycott-in-america-1.10231699
Added Cherry Garcia to our grocery pickup, this week.
“A $82.5 Billion Global Opportunity for Ice Cream by 2026” https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-82-5-billion-global-opportunity-for-ice-cream-by-2026—new-research-from-strategyr-301380472.html
Ate my share of Cherry Garcia when we returned home from a mid-week shopping top-up.
(Times of Israel, July 20, 2021) “Ben & Jerry’s did the right thing : Boycotting the settlements is not boycotting Israel, it is reaffirming the need to end the occupation based on a negotiated two-state solution” https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/ben-jerrys-did-the-right-thing/
“UN blacklists companies with ties to Israeli settlements : The Foreign Ministry said it was cutting off ties with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Michelle Bachelet, which had compiled the list.” (Feb 12, 2020) https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/un-publishes-blacklist-of-companies-with-ties-to-israeli-settlements-617384
“Among those companies listed were major international food conglomerate General Mills, which produces world-renowned brands such as Cheerio’s cereal and Häagen-Dazs ice cream”
“Haagen-Dazs Under Attack in Israel” (Jan 16, 2012) https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/haagen-dazs-under-attack-in-israel A recent notice warned that the State Rabbinical Authority has not approved the American ice cream, saying it is made with unsupervised liquid milk, as opposed to powdered milk. Stores now reportedly risk losing their kosher licenses if they continue to sell Haagen-Dazs, “a severe infringement of kashrut [kosher] procedures.” [Reportedly Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is made with powdered milk]
See also https://eideard.com/2012/01/15/haagen-dazs-ice-cream-to-be-banned-in-israel-because-it-is-made-with-real-milk-wtf/
Helluva good excuse for me to eat ice cream. Not usually any part of my otherwise healthy nutrition plan. Man, that Cherry Garcia was great, last week. I got to stick a finger in the eye of reactionary political thugs and savor a delightful dessert,
Axios interview Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield Sunday on HBO: https://www.axios.com/ben-jerrys-texas-georgia-ice-cream-d996944c-e58b-4042-bed7-acc1163bf4c9.html (includes link to video)
“Ben & Jerry’s founders: It’s a boycott of settlements, not of Israel. We hugely support Israel’s right to exist but are against a particular policy,’ says Ben Cohen; Jerry Greenfield adds: Accusations of antisemitism not surprising but still painful” https://www.timesofisrael.com/ben-jerrys-founders-its-a-boycott-of-settlements-not-of-israel/
“In TV interview, Ben & Jerry’s founders say accusations of antisemitism following West Bank pullout are ‘absurd’” https://www.jta.org/2021/10/11/united-states/ben-cohen-and-jerry-greenfield-say-decision-to-stop-selling-ice-cream-in-west-bank-is-not-a-boycott
“On July 22, the Israeli Foreign Ministry sent a classified cable to all Israeli diplomatic missions in North America and Europe ordering them to start a pressure campaign against Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever in order to convince them to negotiate.
Israeli diplomats were instructed to encourage Jewish organizations, pro-Israel advocacy groups and evangelical communities to organize demonstrations in front of Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever offices and put pressure on investors and distributors for both companies.
The Foreign Ministry also asked the diplomats to push for public statements condemning the companies and to “encourage public protests in the media and directly with key executives in both companies.” The diplomats were also instructed to echo those protests on social media for maximum visibility.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Israeli Consulates around the U.S. were asked to push for the activation of anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) legislation in several states and to engage with governors, mayors, members of Congress and state officials like attorneys general.” https://www.axios.com/israel-ben-and-jerrys-policy-cable-2dfb5145-8cdd-4739-9e2f-391c8076ab18.html
Beita residents reach lands for first time since settler takeover : Hundreds of fearful Palestinians reached their land on Jabal Sabih, which was taken over by settlers and then the Israeli army, to harvest their olive trees. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/11/beita-residents-reach-lands-for-first-time-since-settler-takeover
Infographic: Palestine’s olive industry : Palestinian farmers face systematic attacks by Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank during the olive harvest season. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/14/infographic-palestines-olive-industry
Olive harvest season is under way across the occupied Palestinian territories.
About 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinian families rely on the olive harvest, which takes place every year between October and November, for their income – including more than 15 percent of working women.
A study published in 2012 by The Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ) estimated that since 1967, Israeli authorities have uprooted 800,000 Palestinian olive trees in the West Bank. https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/environmental-terrorism-cripples-palestinian-farmers [Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Research_Institute%E2%80%93Jerusalem ]
In the past year alone, more than 9,300 trees were destroyed in the West Bank, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). https://www.icrc.org/en/document/2021-olive-harvest-season-west-bank-amidst-triple-challenge
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 15th
“Israel approves building plan in illegal Jerusalem settlement : The plan would cut off the neighborhood of Beit Safafa from Palestinian villages while linking Israeli settlements.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/14/israel-approves-building-plan-in-illegal-jerusalem-settlement
“If built, it would be “the first new settlement created in East Jerusalem in the last 20 years.”
The announcement came a day after Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met United States Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, DC.”
* EU 8 March 2021 Office of the European Union Representative (West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA) “Six-Month Report on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem Reporting period January-July2020” https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/EUSETTLERPT_120321.pdf
Israel’s government has declared six Palestinian civil society groups supported by the international community as terrorist organizations, prompting dismay among human rights campaigners. https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/22/europe/israel-palestinian-civil-society-groups-intl/index.html
As a consequence of the declaration, Israeli security forces are authorized to close the groups’ offices, seize their assets and arrest and jail their staff members. Funding or even publicly expressing support for their activities is also prohibited. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/22/israel-palestinian-human-rights-groups-terrorism
“This appalling and unjust decision is an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement,” Amnesty and Human Rights Watch said in a joint statement https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/10/israel-opt-designation-of-palestinian-civil-society-groups-as-terrorists-a-brazen-attack-on-human-rights/#Palestine
US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Friday afternoon Washington was seeking more information from Israel over the basis for the designations, adding the US had not been warned in advance an announcement was coming.
Several members of the US House of Representatives denounced Israel’s move
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 24th