LONDON (dpa-AFX) - The chairwoman of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, Anuradha Mittal, took to Twitter to defend the company's stance to not do business with the 'occupied Palestinian territory', a move for which she has had to take a lot of flak recently.
In her tweet, she not only denied the claims of antisemitism brought against her by the foreign minister of Israel, but she also asked to end the hatred that has engulfed the two nations for eons.
Mittal wrote, 'I am proud of Ben & Jerry's for taking a stance to end the sale of its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This action is not anti-Semitic. I am not anti-Semitic. The vile hate that has been thrown at me does it[sic] intimidate me. Pls work for peace - not hatred!'
Mittal has been a marked activist against the Israeli brand of 'terrorism' and an active supporter of the anti-Israel BDS movement. Israel Advocacy Movement, a UK-based entity, has found Mittal tweeting at least 107 times against the Jewish nation in recent history.
Bend and Jerry's parent body, Unilever, has also distanced itself from the controversy last week. In a letter to the Anti-Defamation League and Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the group wrote, 'We look forward to investing in our business in Israel long into the future. We have never expressed any support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement and have no intention of changing that position.' As it stands, Unilever will not renew its license with Ben and Jerry, which runs till December.
The Presidents Conference also criticized the decision of the confectionery chain as 'discriminatory'. Mittal, on the other hand, has not reciprocated the stand of Unilever and stood by her decision against the Israeli occupation of the Westbank's which she, in her tweet in 2018, called, 'catastrophe'.
As an aftermath of the step, multiple supermarkets in New York have sanctioned the sale of the ice cream franchise. The prime minister of the country, Naftali Bennett has branded Ben and Jerry as 'anti-Israel ice cream' while the president of the country, Isaac Herzog, termed the move as 'A new form of terrorism.' Bennett has also asked the states to punish the chain under anti-boycott law.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2021 AFX News
