Ben & Jerry’s board chair says she proud of decision to end sales in OPT
Anuradha Mittal, the chair of Ben & Jerry’s board of directors, stated on Tuesday she is proud of Ben & Jerry’s decision to end sales in Israeli-Occupied Palestinian territories, saying such action is not anti-Semitic.
“I am proud of @benandjerrys for taking a stance to end sale of its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” Mittal tweeted.
“This action is not anti-Semitic. I am not anti-Semitic. The vile hate that has been thrown at me does it intimidate me.
Pls work for peace – not hatred!” she continued, as for the first time publicly rejected the suggestion that the move was antisemitic.
I am proud of @benandjerrys for taking a stance to end sale of its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This action is not anti-Semitic. I am not anti-Semitic. The vile hate that has been thrown at me does it intimidate me.
Pls work for peace – not hatred!— Anuradha Mittal (@Mittaloak) July 27, 2021
Mittal has not specified the “vile hate” she has received, but it is clearly referred to Israeli officials who claimed that Ben & Jerry’s decision was antisemitic.
Israel’s Ambassador to the US and UN Gilad Erdan has sent letters to the governors of 35 American states that have anti-BDS laws, asking them to act against Ben & Jerry’s decision.
“I urged them to act against Ben & Jerry’s decision to not sell its products in the eastern part of Jerusalem and Judea & Samaria. We will make clear to Ben & Jerry’s that its antisemitic decision will have consequences,” Erdan tweeted.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also vowed to ask the American states to take legal action against the ice cream company.
“Over 30 states in the United States have passed anti-BDS legislation in recent years”, Lapid tweeted. “I plan on asking each of them to enforce these laws against Ben & Jerry’s. They will not treat the State of Israel like this without a response.”
Lapid also called Ben & Jerry’s decision as a “shameful surrender to antisemitism, to BDS and to all that is wrong with the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish discourse.
Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also spoke with the head of Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, and asked him to take a “very serious view of the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to boycott Israel.”
The Well-known American firm announced last week that it will no longer sell its products for illegal settlements in the West Bank and the eastern part of Jerusalem.
Ben & Jerry’s will end sales of our ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Read our full statement: https://t.co/2mGWYGN4GA pic.twitter.com/kFeu7aXOf3
— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) July 19, 2021
The company said in a statement on its website “it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).”
