Ben & Jerry’s is a company that made progressive politics part of its global brand from the very beginning. It’s openly embraced environmentalism, voting rights, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other causes. Palestine has long been viewed as a third rail issue, even among liberals, but not in this case. The political attacks and economic threats didn’t stop the company’s board from suing its parent company or deter it from adding the disclaimer and updated map to its website. If Ben & Jerry’s can show other companies that they can divest from apartheid and survive, that’s a positive.

The ACLU is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court over an Arkansas law that prohibits companies from boycotting Israel. “As Americans it is our right to boycott or not boycott anyone we please and it is none of the government’s business,” Arkansas Times Publisher Alan Leveritt tells Mondoweiss.

According to the Biden administration we can rely on Israel to determine what accountability looks like in the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. But they can never actually explain what this means.

Supporters of the IHRA definition of antisemitism often insist that it has nothing to do with stifling dissent or even shutting down criticism of Israel, but Shawn Evenhaim of the Israeli-American Coalition for Action is very explicit about his vision. He believes people should be punished for criticizing Israel.

Ben & Jerry’s has now sued its parent company Unilever to try to stop it from facilitating sales of ice cream in the occupied West Bank. Unilever’s move to continue sales there undermines the “social integrity Ben & Jerry’s has spent decades building.” According to the company its board voted 5-2 to sue Unilever.

I am such an optimist: for the last year I have been saying that Unilever won’t dare overrule the decision by its subsidiary, Ben & Jerry’s, to stop selling ice cream in the occupied territories. No, progressives are winning this debate. And boy was I wrong!

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.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has signed legislation to expand the state’s anti-BDS law, and adopt the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism.

The Illinois Investment Policy Board was created in 2015 under the guidance of pro-Israel ideologues to prevent the state pension from investing in companies that boycott Israel. However newly obtained emails show that board members see themselves having an even broader mission — “protecting Israeli sovereignty” in the West Bank.