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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israeli-president-accuses-ben-jerry-of-committing-new-form-of-terrorism/">palestinechronicle.com</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israeli President Accuses Ben & Jerry of 'Committing New Form of Terrorism'</h1>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">July 22, 2021<br></div>
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<img src="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Isaac-Herzog-678x455.png" alt="" title="Isaac Herzog" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="445" height="299">
Isaac Herzog Herzog became Israel's 11th president. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
<p>Ben & Jerry’s decision to end sales of its ice cream in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories has been welcomed by many, with
supporters of the Palestinian cause announcing on social media their
decision to increase consumption of the household brand’s product.
Israeli officials, however, have blasted the move denouncing it as no
less than a “new form of terrorism,” highlighting further what is being
mocked as a hysterical reaction by leaders of the occupation state.</p>
<p>Newly sworn-in Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, who is supposed to
represent Israel’s so-called moderate camp, having served as chairman of
the Labor Party, joined the chorus of outrage. “The boycott of Israel
is a new sort of terrorism, economic terrorism,” Herzog is reported
saying by Haaretz at a ceremony commemorating prime ministers and
presidents of Israel who have passed away. “Terrorism tries to harm the
citizens of Israel and the economy of Israel. We must oppose this
boycott and terrorism in any form.”</p>
<p>Herzog added that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
campaign against Israel “does not seek peace, and wishes to undermine
the very existence of the State of Israel. It takes aim at the Israeli
economy.”</p>
<p>Founded in 2005 following the 2004 International Court of Justice’s
(ICJ) ruling on the Separation Wall, which was declared illegal by the
world body, the Palestinian-led BDS movement undertook the campaign to
end Israel’s occupation and its apartheid regime. Since its founding,
BDS has gone from strength to strength especially as Israel’s status as a
state practicing apartheid has become impossible to dispute following
the publication of several high-profile reports.</p>
<p>In April, the pre-eminent human rights organization Human Rights
Watch (HRW) joined a host of other prominent groups to declare that
Israel is committing the crimes of apartheid and persecution.</p>
<p>Prior to HRW’s report, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem branded
Israel an “apartheid” state that “promotes and perpetuates Jewish
supremacy between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.” Echoing
the UN’s 2017 report which concluded that Israel was practicing
apartheid, B’Tselem dismissed the popular misconception that it is a
democracy within the Green (1949 Armistice) Line.</p>
<p>In an article last month, two former Israeli ambassadors to South
Africa also denounced Israel as an apartheid state by drawing parallels
with the system of racial segregation in South Africa which ended in
1994.</p>
<p>The message has also been embraced by American Jews, a quarter of
whom believe Israel is an apartheid state, according to a recent report.</p>
<p>Herzog’s declaration of a peaceful protest against Israel’s
occupation as a form of terrorism highlighted what’s seen as growing
hysteria in the occupation state over BDS. On Monday, a furious Israeli
foreign Minister Yair Lapid weighed in on the decision, taking to
Twitter to accuse the popular ice cream outlet of “surrendering to
anti-semitism”, and said he would be asking 30 US states — which have
passed anti-BDS legislation — to act against Ben & Jerry’s. Some of
his Twitter followers pointed out how Israel telling the US what to do
was not a good look for the occupation state.</p>
<p><em>(MEMO, PC, Social Media)</em></p>
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