(Hannah McKay/Reuters)
In a press briefing Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the Biden administration “firmly rejects” the Boycott Divestment Sanctions Movement amid Ben & Jerry’s corporate decision to discontinue ice-cream sales in ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory,’ by which it meant the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Price said that while the administration will not react to the actions of a private company, “we firmly reject the BDS movement, which unfairly singles out Israel.”
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The BDS global campaign seeks to sever business ties with the Jewish state through boycotts, divestment, and sanctions as a means of non-violent coercion to end the ‘Israeli apartheid regime’ and its alleged illegal settlements, as well as to grant return to Palestinian refugees to their ancestral homes on the Israeli territory.
Ben & Jerry’s will face ‘serious consequences’ for sales ban in Israel, prime minister says Brandon Sapienza
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Ben & Jerry’s and their parent company Unilever of “serious consequences” after the ice cream maker announced that it would no longer be selling its products in Israel.
In a phone call with Unilever CEO Alan Jope, Bennett called the decision a “glaring anti-Israel measure,” and added that the government would act “aggressively against any boycott measure targeting civilians,” according to the prime minister’s office.
On Monday, the Vermont-based ice cream maker and proponent of social justice causes including the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ+ rights, announced that they would no longer be selling their ice cream in Israel.
Palestinians welcome Ben and Jerry s decision; claims of antisemitism rejected arabnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from arabnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In April, Human Rights Watch released a 213-page report, “A Threshold Crossed,” finding that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. We reached this determination based on our documentation of an overarching government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians coupled with grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem
In the months since, a growing chorus of voices, from former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa and current Knesset members to the ex-UN Secretary General and the French foreign minister, have referenced apartheid in relation to Israel’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinians, in particular in the occupied territory. Yet many in Germany, including those critical of Israeli human rights abuses, remain hesitant to apply the label to Israeli conduct.
Ben & Jerry s will face consequences for Israel ban: pol nydailynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nydailynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.