Ben & Jerry’s board chair says ‘I am not anti-Semitic’ after sales ban
Anuradha Mittal, the chair of Ben & Jerry’s independent board of directors, broke her silence to declare that she’s “not anti-Semitic” after the company announced last week that it will halt sales in the West Bank.
“I am proud of @benandjerrys for taking a stance to end sale of its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” she said on Twitter. “This action is not anti-Semitic. I am not anti-Semitic.”
“The vile hate that has been thrown at me does not intimidate me. Pls work for peace – not hatred!” she added.
Mittal’s statement comes as the Vermont-based ice cream maker, which is owned by London-based consumer goods conglomerate Unilever, faces backlash from Israeli politicians, US public officials and international Jewish groups.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has decried Ben & Jerry’s move as “a glaring anti-Israel measure” and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has called it a “shameful surrender to anti-Semitism.”
Bennett, in a phone call with Unilever CEO Alan Jope last week, also threatened consequences for Unilever due to the sales ban.
Public officials in the US have also criticized the move, with a number of states, including New York, that have adopted so-called anti-boycott laws threatening to divest their pension funds from Unilever.
Unilever, for its part, has sought to distance itself from the controversy.
In a letter Tuesday to several Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Unilever’s Jope said the company “rejects completely and repudiates unequivocally any forms of discrimination or intolerance.”
“Anti-Semitism has no place in any society,” he added, explaining that when Unilever bought Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, it agreed to leave control over the subsidiary’s brand and social justice mission in the hands of an independent board, which is led by Mittal.
Many critics of Ben & Jerry’s announcement have linked the action to the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians.
In the US, 35 states have passed laws and executive orders against the movement to discourage boycotts of Israel.
“We have never expressed any support for the BDS movement and have no intention of changing that position,” Jope said in his letter.
Ben & Jerry’s announced last week that it will halt sales in “the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” a term that has been used for years to describe the areas occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the company said in a statement.
The company added that it will let its manufacturing agreement in the region lapse at the end of the year.
But the ice cream maker clarified that it’s not pulling out of Israel, where it will continue to sell ice cream “through a different arrangement.”
The announcement has irked Unilever’s own Jewish employees as well as various grocery store chains around the country.
Avi Kaner, co-owner of New York-based Morton Williams, for example, has said his stores will limit the presence of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
On Twitter, he responded to Mittal’s declaration that she’s not anti-Semitic, saying, “Please DM me and set up a call.”
“As an owner of a supermarket chain and an advocate for regional peace, I can provide perspectives that may help,” he added. “If the goal is peace, please contact me and let’s talk.”
Kaner told The Post that he hasn’t heard yet from Mittal.
