The Illinois state investment board voted to divest from Unilever because its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s has decided to stop selling in occupied Palestinian territories. “We find the IIPB’s punitive actions against companies exercising their free speech rights to engage in boycott to be patently unjust,” write a group of Illinois rabbis and cantors.

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.