WASHINGTON – Following in Arizona’s footsteps, the state of New Jersey announced Tuesday it could divest Ben & Jerry’s funds, along with its parent company, Unilever, over the ice cream firm’s decision to stop sales at settlements Israelis, becoming the second state in the United States. to do it.
The director of the New Jersey Investment Division wrote a letter to Unilever CEO Alan Jope earlier this month notifying him that the review of the status of the July boycott decision of Ben & Jerry came to a preliminary conclusion that the company had breached local laws requiring the divestment of companies boycotting it. Israel.
While Ben & Jerry’s was trying to differentiate between Israel, where it expressed a desire to continue its business, and the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” it said it would boycott, the New Jersey review determined that the latter position was similar to the boycott of Israel according to state law.
Just reaching a preliminary conclusion, New Jersey authorities gave Unilever 90 days to convince Ben & Jerry’s to withdraw from the announcement before the state moved forward with the divestment of pension fund assets.
These pension funds amount to $ 90 billion in New Jersey, although it was not immediately known what percentage is currently invested in the state-based Unilever.
The president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, Eric Fingerhut, praised the announcement, saying it “sends a strong message that boycott and discrimination against the staunch American ally Israel are unacceptable and only serve to undermine the cause of peace. “
On this March 23, 2010, file photo ice cream moves along Ben & Jerry’s homemade ice cream production line in Waterbury, Vt. (AP Photo / Toby Talbot, File)
Earlier this month, Arizona became the first state to trigger the divestment of Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s in response to the boycott of its liquidation.
Arizona’s investments in Unilever fell from $ 143 million on June 30 to just $ 50 million last week, and on September 21 it will be reduced to zero, said state treasurer Kimberly Yee in a statement.
There are 34 states in total that require their governments to stop doing business with companies that boycott Israel, and 21 of these, such as Arizona, include boycotts of West Bank settlements in their definitions.
So far, eight states are known to have sparked similar revisions that could result in the disengagement of Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever. In addition to Arizona and New Jersey, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Maryland and Rhode Island have initiated formal processes.
There was a furious backlash against the ice cream company over its decision, announced in July, to stop selling its products to what it called “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” presumably in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Ben & Jerry’s said it would sever ties with its Israeli maker and distributor and end sales on the green line by the end of 2022.
Unilever has stated that it hopes to continue doing business in Israel and opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, while the founders of Ben & Jerry’s have said they do not support BDS but oppose “illegal occupation”. of Israel ”. However, it is unclear whether Ben and Jerry’s will continue to be available in Israel when the ban goes into effect late next year, as Israeli law prohibits discrimination against Israeli citizens in the territories.