[News] Ben & Jerry’s board chair says she proud of decision to end sales in OPT

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Ben & Jerry’s board chair says she proud of decision to end sales in OPT

July 28, 2021 - https://qudsnen.co/?p=27625

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
<https://twitter.com/benandjerrys?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> 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
<https://twitter.com/Mittaloak/status/1420025947051466771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

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 <https://t.co/kFeu7aXOf3>

— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) July 19, 2021
<https://twitter.com/benandjerrys/status/1417128875075719172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

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).”
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