New Jersey divests from Unilever over Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling ice cream in occupied Palestinian territories
The fallout over Ben & Jerry’s mid-July announcement that it would no longer sell ice cream in occupied Palestinian territories continued last week, The New York Times reported, with the state of New Jersey planning to pull out $182 million in pension fund investments from the ice cream maker’s parent company, Unilever. While Ben & Jerry’s has stated that its decision to stop selling its products in the occupied territories did not amount to a boycott, New Jersey officials in a review concluded otherwise—making the parent company ineligible for public investment under a 2016 state law prohibiting public funds from being invested in companies that boycott Israel. The divestment follows a similar recent decision by Arizona, and other states may follow suit.
