Actions speak louder than words, and it is time for Unilever to freeze out Ben and Jerry’s before their own profits start to melt
The announcement itself was intentionally misleading, because Ben & Jerry’s is well aware that Israeli law actually forbids this kind of action (i.e., the boycott of Israeli citizens, Jewish or Arab, based on their location), and so the Israeli licensee (who, it should be noted, employs ten Palestinian workers in these areas) could not have complied with that request even if he had wanted to.
The decision also did not take place in a vacuum. It came after a years-long pressure campaign by a group of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement activists called Vermonters for Justice in Palestine.
The BDS movement operates as a coordinated and sophisticated effort to disrupt the economic and financial stability of the State of Israel, and to directly harm the economic interests of persons conducting business in and with Israel, or with people deemed too closely affiliated with the country. Activists spread dangerous lies about the Jewish state and use the threat of withdrawing financial support in an effort to coerce companies to cease or refuse to engage in business relations with Israel, its nationals, and its residents. In practice, and especially in its accompanying “cultural and academic boycotts,” the BDS movement also targets people who are Jewish or who do business with persons who are Jewish.
A least, that is how the movement’s own supporters have described it. Others might not be so charitable, and would likely point out that BDS has been a significant factor in the recent trend of anti-Semitic incidents, both globally and domestically, and that the unambiguous goal of the international BDS movement is the elimination of the State of Israel.
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