Re: New York pulls $111M in pension funds from Ben & Jerry?s over boycott of Israel-occupied territories

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<[email protected]> wrote:
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> Very happy to see Swallwell fail after his immature ignorant behavior with a Chink whore spy.
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> Monkey Pox, right on time to give Democrats an excuse to cheat in the next election.

New York state’s mammoth pension fund is pulling $111 million in 
investments out of the firm that owns Ben & Jerry’s because of 
the ice cream maker’s boycott of Israel’s occupied territories, 
The Post has learned.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli — the sole manager of the $263 
billion state Common Retirement Fund — said Ben & Jerry’s 
decision to stop selling ice cream in the disputed Israeli-
Palestinian territories in July violated his office’s policy 
against the boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) movement 
against Israel.

As a result, the comptroller is yanking $111 million in equity 
investments from Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s parent company.

“After a thorough review, the New York State Common Retirement 
Fund will divest its equity holdings in Unilever PLC. Our review 
of the activities of the company, and its subsidiary Ben & 
Jerry’s, found they engaged in BDS activities under our pension 
fund’s policy,” DiNapoli said in a statement to The Post.

The state comptroller’s policy, established in June 2016, said 
BDS activities are intended to inflict economic harm against 
Israel and as a result, the state pension fund’s investments in 
the Jewish state. The state pension fund — the nation’s third-
largest — invests more than $800 million in retirement funds in 
Israel.

The policy put companies involved in BDS activities against 
Israel on notice that the state would yank its pension 
investments.

“We will be divesting those investments. Ben & Jerry’s engaged 
in BDS activities,” said a spokesman for DiNapoli.

Allies of Israel applauded DiNapoli for standing up for the 
Jewish state.

“This is wonderful news. God bless Tom DiNapoli,” said former 
Brooklyn state Assemblyman Dov Hikind.

“BDS equals anti-Semitism and Comptroller DiNapoli  stood up 
against hate.”

Hikind and DiNapoli served together for years in the state 
Assembly and the comptroller personally called Hikind Thursday 
night to inform him of his action against Unilever/Ben & Jerry’s.

DiNapoli’s director of corporate governance, Liz Gordon, sent a 
warning notice to Unilever CEO Alan Jope that Ben & Jerry’s was 
engaging in a BDS action against Israel.

Jope gave a circular response on Aug. 4 defending Ben & Jerry’s 
actions, saying Unilever doesn’t intervene in actions taken by 
the “independent” boards or the “social mission” of its brands.

“Unilever has a strong and longstanding commitment to our 
business in Israel. We employ nearly 2,000 people in the country 
across our four factories and head office, and we have invested 
approximately $250 million in the Israeli market over the last 
decade,” Jope said in a letter to Gordon.

The Unilever boss added, “On this decision, it was no different. 
Ben & Jerry’s has also made it clear that although the brand 
will not be present in the West Bank from 2023, it will remain 
in Israel through a different business arrangement.”

Last month, the state of New Jersey started divesting $182 
million invested in Unilever stock, bonds and other securities 
over Ben & Jerry’s boycott of Israel — joining other anti-BDS 
states including Arizona and Texas.

On July 19, Ben and Jerry’s announced it would stop selling ice 
cream to the occupied Palestinian territories, saying “it is 
inconsistent with our values” to conduct business there.

Ben and Jerry’s Jewish co-founders, Bennett Cohen and Jerry 
Greenfield — who sold their namesake company to Unilever in 2000 
— defended the company’s decision to end sales in the region in 
a New York Times editorial in July, writing that Israel was one 
of the first countries that the company had expanded to 
internationally as it grew.

The founders, who called themselves “proud Jews,” said it is 
“possible to support Israel and oppose some of its policies” 
just as they’ve “opposed policies in the US government.”

Additional reporting by Patrick Reilly

https://nypost.com/2021/10/29/new-york-pulls-pension-funds-from-
ben-jerrys-over-boycott-of-israel-occupied-territories/