Unilever’s decision to allow sales of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the occupied territories by selling off its arm there to an Israeli company was cheered by Israel lobby groups. But much like General Mills’s recent decision to stop manufacturing Pillsbury products in the occupied territories, the arrangement is in characterized by caveats and vagueness. And it is not a complete defeat for the BDS campaign.

NYT columnist Tom Friedman painted the past year in Israel—the first Netanyahu-free year since 2008—as an icon of democracy, where Israeli Jews and Palestinian citizens of Israel danced together under the blue and white flag, in harmony and happiness. That is a contemptible piece of fiction which erases apartheid, blames Palestinians for their own ongoing oppression, and praises those who would abandon their cousins under occupation.

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The successful effort by the Israeli government and its American friends to overturn the Ben & Jerry’s boycott of the settlements as a supposed “antisemitic” action shows that it is pointless for activists to selectively boycott the illegal settlements. No– boycotts should be aimed at Israel. There is no such thing as a good Israel on one side of the Green Line and a bad one in the occupation. It is all one apartheid state.

Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, has announced that it will continue to sell ice cream throughout Israel and the occupied West Bank. Last summer Ben & Jerry’s claimed that it would end its business in the “occupied territories” by the end of this year because it was “inconsistent with our values.”
Unilever sold the Israeli branch of the Vermont-based brand to Avi Zinger, owner of American Quality Products. Zinger can now sell the ice cream under Hebrew and Arabic names throughout the region, including the illegally occupied West Bank.

Manasra’s lawyers and family have stepped up their campaign to demand his freedom, after years of harsh interrogations and abuse coupled with prolonged stints in solitary confinement which led to a severe deterioration of his mental health. 

The ADC tells Joe Biden, The United States has an obligation to Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist killed by an Israeli sniper May 11, to find out what happened to her. “If this happened in any other country, the US would have at a minimum called for an independent investigation. It is not lost on ADC that Israel has been excused in similar past incidents, such as the murder of Palestinian-American Omar Assad in February 2022, and the brutal beating of fifteen-year-old Palestinian-American Tarik Abukhdeir in 2015.”

The existence of Hamas is used by Israel to justify the siege of Gaza and also the paralysis of peace talks. Hamas has become a convenient excuse for indefinite occupation. It may well be time to broach the taboo subject of talking to Hamas and seek a way of bringing them into the peace conversation. Certainly, there can be no peace without Hamas and its followers participating in some way or another.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey says attacks by progressives like IfNotNow on politicians for supporting Israel are causing those colleagues to “lay low” rather than speak up for Israel’s actions. “The issue I worry about more than anything is that some of my colleagues when I call them now to join on something, they’ll say, Listen Josh, You know I’m with you, you know I’m going to vote with you. I always stand by Israel. But you know I just don’t feel like getting beaten up. I get beaten up so much when I come out in support. So I’m just going to lay low, if you don’t mind. I’ll be there for the vote, but I don’t want to sign the letter. I don’t want to speak out publicly.”

Rep. Marie Newman was ousted by moderate Rep. Sean Casten in Illinois’ 6th district. Democratic Majority For Israel spent $450,000 on the race because Newman has voted with the Squad on Israel issues. But Casten has said that the U.S. has a “blind spot” when it comes to Israel’s human rights abuses.