Unilever, owner of Ben & Jerry’s, ''must override'' the ice cream giant’s ''antisemitic, discriminatory'' decision to boycott Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem,'' Zionist Organization of America President Morton Klein said in a statement released Thursday.
Ben & Jerry’s in mid-July announced it was ending sales in the occupied Palestinian territory, saying such sales were ''inconsistent with our values.''
The statement was one of the strongest rebukes by a high-profile company of Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which it has controlled for more than a half-century after capturing the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Palestinians, with broad international support, claim both areas as parts of a future independent state. Israeli settlements, now home to some 700,000 Israelis, are seen as illegal and obstacles to peace.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem after the 1967 war and considers the entire city its undivided capital, though the annexation is not internationally recognized. It says the West Bank is disputed territory and says its final status should be resolved in negotiations. The international community, however, widely considers both areas to be occupied territory.
While noting that it would not serve Israeli-occupied areas, the ice cream maker said it would continue to provide ice cream in Israel ''through a different arrangement.'' A number of companies, most notably beverage company SodaStream, have closed factories in the occupied West Bank but few have targeted Israeli consumers living there.
Unilever, in a statement following Ben & Jerry’s announcement, said it would respect and defer to the company’s ''social mission.''
''The Unilever-Ben & Jerry’s 2000 agreements contain a limited, inapplicable definition of ''social mission'' and do not make Ben & Jerry’s solely responsible for that mission,'' said the ZOA letter. ''Discriminating against Jews and the Jewish state is not part of that social mission.''
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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