Posted on 08/18/2021 1:35:08 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
Ben & Jerry's defended its decision to restrict its sales in Israel on Monday, with the founder telling the anti-Israel activist group Americans for Peace Now that he was "proud" of the boycott.
"We did it. We're proud of it," said Ben & Jerry's founder Ben Cohen on the Monday call, even as the company faces legal blowback from several U.S. states. "We consistently use our voice to stand up for justice, and the amazing thing that we discovered over the years is that the more we do that, the more ice cream we sell."
At least eight U.S. states have said they are considering sanctioning Ben & Jerry's, or its parent company Unilever, under anti-boycott laws, after the ice cream maker announced that it would halt sales in Jewish neighborhoods in disputed areas of Israel, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The conference call was hosted by the left-leaning Americans for Peace Now
and included Ben & Jerry's board chairwoman Anuradha Mittal and Suhad Babaa, the director of Just Vision, a group that advocates for the anti-Israel boycott movement.
Peter Beinart, a writer who opposes the existence of a Jewish state and has been working internally with Ben & Jerry's to defend its boycott efforts, was also on the call.
Cohen denied that the company's decision was driven by anti-Jewish sentiment. He said he supports the notion of a Jewish state and did not realize that other people were living in the area prior to the establishment of Israel.
"I understand that at the end of World War II, these countries got together and said the Jews should have a homeland. Yes, I agree with that. I was under the impression at the time that there were not people living in that area, but apparently there were, and they did not like the idea of a Jewish homeland being established where they were living, and I understand that," Cohen said.
Cohen called on outside groups and individuals to speak out publicly in support of Ben & Jerry's as it faces backlash over its decision.
"People need to speak up and speak up publicly. It's much more effective for people that are not Ben & Jerry's to be defending Ben & Jerry’s than it is for Ben & Jerry's to be defending itself," Cohen said.
Mittal, the chairwoman of the Ben & Jerry’s board and the director of a nonprofit group that has published defenses of Hezbollah and Hamas, claimed that critics of the Ben & Jerry's decision were "spreading lies and myths."
"We need to learn to disagree with each other in a respectful fashion," Mittal said. "We have to lend our voices as citizens because, as Ben pointed out, governments and war-mongers, those hawks that profiteer from war, that has to end."
She said the company board and management were both in agreement over the boycott of Israeli neighborhoods in contested parts of the country, but they have yet to decide whether to cease sales in Israel entirely.
Mittal asked listeners to also support Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry's, because it "respected the acquisition agreement" that allowed the ice cream company's board to institute the boycott. Unilever has said it does not support boycotts of Israel but is tied by the acquisition agreement.
U.S. and Israeli political leaders have criticized Ben & Jerry's over the decision, and officials in Arizona, Florida, New York, and other states have been weighing potential sanctions against the company.
NEVER bought NOR ATE one of their products. EVER. Anyone beat that? The last time I was CLOSE to eating their crap was at my neighbor’s 10th birthday party, and somehow I avoided it. Maybe because one of the kids sneezed at the ice cream..
Self hating Jews. I worked for a Bank that was approached by them some 20 years ago. Their demands for the entire company were so bizarre the commercial guys laughed at them.
Their ice cream isn’t even that good any more.
Never saw that brand anywhere. Wouldn’t buy it if I had.
So.. you think they should be forced to sell their stuff in Israel?
Or what?
“The amazing thing that we discovered over the years is that the more we do that, the more ice cream we sell.”
If this were true he would not be asking people to support their actions.
I never tried their overpriced S#!t....and now never will!!!
I’ve never ate their hippy-dippy ice cream. They look kind of nasty and it makes me not want their ice cream.
I will be 70 next month and I have never eaten Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. And won’t EVER eat it before I die. Ungrateful smucks! Give me Texas Blue Bell Ice Cream!
Never have bought their crap, and never will.
It’s crap, shit, trash, filth, garbage, sewage, junk, tasteless, dioxin-poisoned dogcrap.
https://www.wired.com/2000/08/ben-jerrys-dioxin-controversy/
Tried their ice cream once, found it vastly overrated, haven’t been tempted to buy it in years.. B&J can go suck rocks . They’ll taste better.
ROTFL!
How relevant is Ben and Jerry’s?
Answer: They are totally irrelevant.
Ice cream is ice cream. There are literally hundreds of ice cream brands in the world with most of them better than Ben and Jerry’s and much cheaper too.
Why are we even wasting time on these slimy creeps?
Who?
Blue Bell, the best ice cream in the country...
Used to buy it; don’t anymore. B & J know what they can do with their ice cream.
Probably the next flavor they will conme out with is “Taliban Bloodbath”.
bumblegummer fell on his head when he was a kid.
Biden’s his biggest customer.
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