LOS ANGELES (Press Release)— The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) announced on Tuesday a campaign to confront anti-Semitism at Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever, in response to the ice cream maker’s recent boycott of Israel. The campaign, which launches with print ads in Jewish newspapers around America, calls on consumers, states, and legislators to hold Unilever accountable for anti-Semitism tied to its organization. A copy of the SWC advertisement as it appeared in one paper, the Cleveland Jewish News, can be found here.
Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever have demonstrated a pattern of anti-Semitic behavior, according to SWC. In addition to the boycott, Ben & Jerry’s board chairwoman Anuradha Mittal has a track record of endorsing the anti-Semitic BDS movement and defending Hezbollah and Hamas. Both acts prompted the SWC to publish a series of advertisements in outlets nationwide calling on consumers to encourage their local grocery stores to stop selling Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
“It was never just about ice cream sold in East Jerusalem. It is all about Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company profits being leveraged by an activist anti-Semite who hates Israel and defends Hamas – and the corporate executives at Unilever letting it happen,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Global Social Action Director at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “This is about arrogance and irresponsibility, enabling the odious anti-Semitic BDS movement to use money from a global brand to brand Jews as occupiers in their own land at a time when there is a spike of violent attacks against Jews from Germany to the UK to the U.S.”
The SWC campaign aims to mobilize Americans and states to contest Ben & Jerry’s boycott against Israel, a critical U.S. ally. Many states have already pulled investments out of Unilever, including a combined $325 million divestment from Arizona and New Jersey. Reviews of Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s that could lead to similar action are underway in New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Maryland, and Rhode Island, prompted by anti-BDS laws requiring states to withdraw investments from any company that boycotts the goods, products, or businesses of Israel.
Using boycotts to isolate the Jewish State date back to the Arab League boycott of Israel. In 1977, Congress passed laws prohibiting U.S. companies from complying with the boycott. “Thankfully there are laws in our country that ensure there are consequences for such corporate anti-Semitism,” Rabbi Cooper said. “Just ask the states of Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Florida.”
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Preceding provided by the Simon Wiesenthal Center
I have re-read the editorial and nowhere does it say that Unilever approved the recent actions of B&J.
It does mention though that ” It is all about Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company profits being leveraged by an activist anti-Semite who hates Israel and defends Hamas – and the corporate executives at Unilever letting it happen”.
Are trying to tell us that Unilever has no control over the questionable use of its corporate funds by B&J, like “contributing” to an anti-Semitic NGO whose only paid employee is the chairperson of B&J?
Has the legal department of Simon Wiesenthal looked into Unilever’s Legal Agreement with Ben and Jerry’s, pertaining to the latter’s demand for sole decision making and independence of Unilever and the Parent Company’s agreement to that demand?
Your reporting clearly states that Unilever has given its approval for and is complicit in Ben & Jerry’s actons, which Unilever has denied emphatically. Until you do your “due diligence” I am withdrawing my decades long support of Simon Wiesenthal.
Has California divested from Unilever?