As a Jewish American as well as a dual citizen of Israel and the United States, I was deeply disappointed that Newsday did not see fit to include a single voice supportive of Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop doing business in the occupied territories (“Hempstead Town officials vow to boycott Ben & Jerry’s,” July 23, 2021). Sadly, the report also fails to stress that Ben & Jerry’s has explicitly committed to continuing doing business in Israel itself, within the country’s legal borders; its boycott is only of those areas that have been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, where Palestinians are denied equal human rights.
Monthly Archives: August 2021
I scream, you scream, everyone’s screaming about ice cream by Susie Becher
The tagline of the mission statement on the Ben & Jerry’s website says that the company believes that “ice cream can change the world.” Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop the sale of its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) may not end up changing the world, but the uproar it has generated has done more to raise awareness of the existence and location of the Green Line than decades of Peace Now marches and Haaretz editorials.
The accusation that Ben & Jerry’s is boycotting Israel is totally unfounded. As the company’s announcement said, it is halting sales in the OPT but will continue to market its products in Israel. That may sound like a boycott to right-wing annexationists for whom West Bank settlements are on a par with Israeli cities, but mainstream Israelis should be smart enough not to buy into this baseless claim. This is not BDS, a movement that advocates boycott of, divestment from, and sanctions against the State of Israel. Once Ben & Jerry’s withdraws from the occupied territories, Israeli consumers from Metulla to Eilat will be able to continue to down pints of “Chunky Monkey” with clear consciences and concerns only for the calorie count and not for shekels being spent to sustain the occupation.