Texas mulls divesting from Unilever over Ben & Jerry’s boycott

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Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Thursday that Texas may divest from Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever, after the ice cream company decided to boycott Judea and Samaria.

Hegar said he has instructed his employees to determine whether Ben & Jerry’s or Unilever has taken any action that would lead to the state’s anti-boycott law.

The Texas pension fund is worth more than $100 million, according to Bloomberg, and Unilever is included in its portfolio.

Chapter 808 of the Texas Government Act prohibits the government from investing its pension fund in any party that boycotts Israel. A boycott of Israel is defined as “a refusal to deal with or terminate business activities with or to take any action intended to punish, inflict economic harm, or specifically limit business relations with Israel or with a person or entity doing business in Israel or an area that controls It is Israel.”

Ben & Jerry’s has been operating in Israel for nearly 35 years, with a factory in Beer Tuvia. On Tuesday, Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would no longer sell its products in the “occupied Palestinian territories”, and terminate its contract with the Israeli licensee, who refused to participate in the boycott, when it expires in 2022. They said they would look for a new arrangement and would continue to sell its products. in Israel.

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However, the Vermont-based company’s independent board issued a statement of its own saying that the earlier statement came from Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, and did not reflect its position, which is to end sales in Israel entirely.

“Texas have made clear that they stand with Israel and its people,” Hegar said. “We are against all those who wish to undermine Israel’s economy and people…My office has a long history of supporting Israel through our holdings of bonds and the Controller List of audited companies with ties to Iran, as well as those with links to foreign terrorist organizations.”

Hegar encouraged Texans to eat Blue Bell ice cream, which “was founded in Brenham, Texas and tastes so much better than the pricier foods made by the foreign-owned company that started in Vermont.”

Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced that Israel would contact American countries with anti-boycott laws to encourage them to take action.

Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations Erdan sent a letter to the governors of 35 states that have such laws. Most anti-boycott laws require the state to stop entering into contracts with Ben & Jerry’s, and possibly Unilever, or divest from it.

On a conference call with investors, Unilever CEO Alan Jope said the consumer goods giant is “fully committed” to continuing to do business in Israel.

“It is clearly a complex and sensitive issue that elicits very strong feelings. If there is one message I would like to emphasize on this call, it is that Unilever remains fully committed to our business in Israel,” Job said.

However, Jope didn’t say he would force Ben & Jerry’s to reverse its decision, and noted the ice cream company’s long history of taking social and political positions.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett commented on Ben & Jerry’s boycott of a delegation of ambassadors to the United States and the United Nations visiting Israel on Thursday.

Bennett warned that “anyone who thinks of turning the boycott of the State of Israel into a matter of marketing or branding will find that it was the worst business decision they have made.”

The prime minister added: “Consumers, certainly in Israel, but also in the United States and other countries, don’t think it’s cool to side with Hamas.” “We are using all means we have to act against this, including legal means.”

Bennett said that those who boycott Israel are punishing it for the “sin…fighting terrorism” and will pay the price.

“At this time, when companies succumb to boycott pressures and include anti-Israel political considerations in their decisions, the visit of UN ambassadors to Israel is especially important,” Erdan said.

Erdan, in cooperation with the American Zionist Movement and the March of Life, brought a delegation of 10 ambassadors to Israel a week ago to visit sites across the country and receive security clearances on Israel’s northern border and near Gaza, where they also met its residents. Communities hit by Hamas rockets.

Among the countries whose representatives took part in the trip were Australia, Argentina, Ukraine, Kenya, Guatemala, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Dominican Republic, Tonga and Bhutan, with which Israel established relations last year.

Erdan said the ambassadors said that, after the trip, they would influence their countries to stand by Israel and against the hypocrisy and anti-Israel discrimination that is rampant at the United Nations.

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