The Rabbinical Alliance of America — Igud HaRabbonim, representing over 950 American rabbis— applauds Unilever for ending Ben & Jerry’s anti-Israel boycott. Unilever said it reached a deal in which it sold the Israeli branch of the ice cream brand to the current Ben & Jerry’s licensee in the country. This will allow him, as the new owner, to sell anywhere in the country. This move by Unilever comes after Ben & Jerry’s independent board decided last summer to boycott Judea and Samaria, territories that Israel liberated in the Six Day War of 1967. By stopping sales in Judea and Samaria, Ben & Jerry’s joined a global campaign known as “BDS,” which stands for boycott, divest and sanction, that targets Israel alone among all the countries in the world. Unilever’s sale of its Israel franchise effectively overrides last summer’s BDS decision by Ben & Jerry’s.
Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, praised Unilever “for creatively finding a solution to economic warfare that unjustly seeks to delegitimize Israel and ignores all other countries in the world. For too long, BDS has unfairly targeted Israel and failed to take into consideration the facts, truth, and reality that Israel is not a country that discriminates against Arabs. On the contrary, Israel treats all people under its jurisdiction with equity, fairness, and full equality. By ending the BDS policies of Ben and Jerry’s, Unilever has demonstrated that the company is committed to true peace in the Middle East and that it will not tolerate the lies, deceit and dishonesty of the BDS movement. It takes courage and conviction to stand up and do the right thing. The Rabbinical Alliance of America commends Unilever for making the proper moral decision to reverse the dangerous course initiated by Ben and Jerry’s in its economic warfare against Israel. When Arab countries are increasingly making peace with Israel, that is not the time to try to isolate and destabilize the only democracy in the Middle East.”