Under the terms and conditions of Unilever’s purchase of Ben & Jerry’s, it was determined that the board of the ice cream manufacturer should remain semi-autonomous, but nowhere does it say in that agreement that they have license to play petty politics and in so doing severely damage your brand image and revenue.
They have neither history nor geography on their side in boycotting sales in an area that has been the topic of repeated negotiations with the Palestinians. President Clinton’s memoirs substantiate the inability of Palestinian leadership to overcome its own dogma and actually look after its own populace rather than use them as human shields and political pawns.
Israel is the only enlightened democracy in the region dispensing emergency aid all over the world including recently to Florida. 20% of her population are Palestinian Arab citizens who are represented accordingly in the government and supreme court. Those who wish to join this progressive journey in peace are welcome to do so but that precludes continued declarations of the intention to destroy the only Jewish state and sanctuary on the planet.
I do not see that so-called socially responsible board taking a stance against real persecution across the globe in for instance China, Russia or a plethora of Arab states. Perhaps those so- called socially responsible leaders at Ben & Jerry’s are just not interested that in the so-called “occupied areas” they throw their own relatives off rooftops for being gay.
Perhaps they should be most interested in the fact that in 35 of these great states of America BDS—barely disguised antiSemitism—is in fact not only discouraged but is absolutely illegal. In whatever way you clothe this intolerance you cannot cover up the outright discrimination.
You are urged to overturn this maliciously ignorant boycott which actually harms your Palestinian employees more than anybody else.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Michael TurekNew Rochelle