{"id":1507801,"date":"2022-06-08T13:19:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T17:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1507801"},"modified":"2022-06-08T13:19:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T17:19:29","slug":"new-york-governor-kathy-hochul-gives-ben-jerrys-parent-company-one-last-chance-to-justify-divestment-from-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-york-governor-kathy-hochul-gives-ben-jerrys-parent-company-one-last-chance-to-justify-divestment-from-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Governor Kathy Hochul Gives Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s Parent Company One Last Chance To Justify \u2018Divestment\u2019 From Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-york-governor-kathy-hochul-gives-ben-jerrys-parent-company-one-last-chance-to-justify-divestment-from-israel%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1507801&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Governor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/kathy-hochul\">Kathy Hochul<\/a> (D-NY) issued one final warning to Unilever \u2014 the parent company of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/ben-jerrys\">Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s<\/a> \u2014 before she considers divesting state funds from the firm due to its boycott in parts of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/israel\">Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last summer, the ice cream manufacturer \u2014 which frequently endorses Left-leaning policies \u2014 revealed that it would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/leftist-ben-jerrys-targets-israel-we-wont-sell-ice-cream-in-judea-and-samaria\">cease sales<\/a> in parts of the Near East purportedly \u201coccupied\u201d by Israelis. In response, New York\u2019s state pension fund <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/nys-huge-pension-fund-yanks-over-100-million-from-ben-jerrys-parent-company\">pulled<\/a> $111 million from Unilever in October 2021 since Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s move violated policies against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement. More than 30 states have similar policies.<\/p>\n<p>In November, Hochul sent a 90-day warning letter to Unilever asking for a justification of Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s move. Unilever vice president and general counsel David Schwarz said in a letter to Hochul that Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s has \u201cstated publicly that its action is not part of the BDS movement,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/forward.com\/news\/504914\/bds-ben-jerrys-new-york-hochul-divestment-israel\/\">The Forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Schwarz added,\u00a0\u201cUnilever has never expressed any support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New York\u2019s Office of General Services followed up in May requesting a \u201cdetailed explanation\u201d of why Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s action does not constitute a boycott activity. Several pro-Israel organizations sent a letter to Hochul last week urging immediate action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than three months have passed since your 90-day deadline. More than 10 months have passed since Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s instituted an antisemitic boycott against Israel, which Unilever refused to override,\u201d the letter said. \u201cConsistent with how forcefully other states have responded to Unilever\u2019s and Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s boycott, New York must finally take decisive action, and add Unilever and Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s to its boycott list.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hochul is now giving Unilever one last chance to explain by July 6 why Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s has not engaged in boycott activity. Hochul press secretary Hazel Crampton-Hays told The Forward that the initial response from Unilever \u201cdid not include important clarifying information central to formulating a determination under the Executive Order.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beyond New York, other states have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/ron-desantis-pushes-for-action-against-ben-jerrys-over-israel-boycott\">taken action<\/a> to pull funding from Unilever. Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), for example, said in July 2021 that Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s had violated state law by boycotting Israel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you know, Florida has long had a strong relationship with the State of Israel. As a matter of law and principle, the State of Florida does not tolerate discrimination against the State of Israel or the Israeli people, including boycotts and divestments targeting Israel,\u201d DeSantis wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2021, Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives \u2014 noting that Florida, Arizona, New Jersey, New York, and Texas had jettisoned Unilever shares \u2014 likewise <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/republican-and-democratic-lawmakers-urge-sec-to-examine-ben-jerrys-israel-boycott\">asked<\/a> the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to examine Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<p>In an October 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/i-dont-know-ben-jerrys-co-founder-stumped-when-pressed-about-israel-boycott-hypocrisy\">interview<\/a>, Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were pressed about their boycott decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou guys are big proponents of voting rights. Why do you still sell ice cream in Georgia? Texas \u2014 abortion bans. Why are you still selling there?\u201d Alexi McCammond of Axios asked. After a six-second pause, a frazzled Cohen replied, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting question,\u201d he attempted to answer. \u201cI don\u2019t know what that would accomplish. We\u2019re working on those issues, of voting rights, and \u2014 I don\u2019t know. You know, I mean, I think you ask a really good question. And I think I\u2019d have to sit down and think about it for a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) issued one final warning to Unilever \u2014 the parent company of Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s \u2014 before she considers divesting state funds from the firm due to its boycott in parts of\u00a0Israel. Last summer, the ice cream manufacturer \u2014 which frequently endorses Left-leaning policies \u2014 revealed that it would cease sales in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":1508892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1507801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1508892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}