Florida has placed Ben & Jerry's parent company Unilever on its list of 'scrutinized companies' after the ice cream maker's decision to end sales in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made the announcement Tuesday after he directed the state's board of administrators to place the company on the list, which is made up of companies that participate in boycotts of Israel or limit commercial activities with the Jewish state.
The designation means Unilever has 90 days to force Ben & Jerry's to reverse its boycott or become subject to a prohibition on state investments in the company and against contracting with it or its subsidiaries.
Perhaps most painfully for the company, it could mean Florida would prohibit state pension funds holding any investment in Unilever.
'As a matter of law and principle, the State of Florida will not tolerate discrimination against the State of Israel or the Israeli people,' DeSantis said in a statement Tuesday. 'By placing Ben & Jerry’s Fortune 500 parent company Unilever on our List of Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel, Florida is sending a message to corporate America that we will defend our strong relationship with the Jewish State.'
The decision would mean Unilever has 90 days to force Ben & Jerry's to end its boycott or face prohibition on Florida state investments in the company and against contracting with it or its subsidiaries. Pictured Ben & Jerry's main factory in Beer Tuvia, Israel on July 22
The sunshine state is home to a relatively large Jewish population of 657,095 permanently living in the state, which is the third highest in the US behind New York and California.
Other companies to be included on Florida's list include Airbnb, which announced in 2018 that it would cease listing properties in the West Bank.
DeSantis first directed his State Board of Administration to place Unilever on the list on July 22, three days after Ben & Jerry's made the announcement that it would stop ice cream sales in the contested areas, saying they were 'inconsistent with our values.'
Ben & Jerry's cofounders Bennett Cohen (left) and Jerry Greenfield (right), who sold the company to Unilever in 2000, have supported its decision
Unilever CEO Alan Jope (pictured above in New York in 2019) said that while his company remains 'fully committed' to Israel, it cannot force its subsidiary, Ben & Jerry's, to reverse its decision to stop selling ice cream in Jewish settlements on the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s office said it would probe placing Ben & Jerry's on a blacklist banning it from doing business with the state in response to its Palestine policy
The board says that on July 28 it made an 'engagement call' with Unilever Investor Relations during which the company, it says, told them it 'has no current plan to prevent Ben & Jerry’s from terminating business activities in Israeli-controlled territories.'
The call came the same day, DeSantis noted in his Tuesday announcement, as Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who co-founded the ice cream chain in 1978 and sold it to Unilever in 2000, endorsed the decision in an op-ed for the The New York Times.
'We are the founders of Ben & Jerry's. We are also proud Jews. It's part of who we are and how we've identified ourselves for our whole lives. As our company began to expand internationally, Israel was one of our first overseas markets. We were then, and remain today, supporters of the State of Israel,' Cohen and Greenfield wrote.
'But it's possible to support Israel and oppose some of its policies, just as we've opposed policies of the U.S. government.'
Unilever CEO Alan Jope has distanced himself from his subsidiary's decision, saying in a conference call with investors on July 22 that the global consumer goods giant remains 'fully committed' to doing business in Israel.
But Jope gave no indication that Unilever would force Ben & Jerry's to roll back its controversial decision.
The Ben & Jerry's announcement is one of the strongest steps by a well-known company against Israel's settlements, which are widely seen by the international community as illegal.
The Israeli government has condemned the decision, accusing the company of joining a Palestinian-led boycott campaign against Israel.
It has urged 35 American states with anti-boycott laws to punish Unilever.
In addition to Florida, Texas could blacklist Ben & Jerry’s as punishment for the move.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s office announced that it will investigate whether the company violated Chapter 808 of the Texas Government Code which forbids the state from giving contracts to firms that boycott Israel.
'Texans have made it very clear that they stand with Israel and its people. We are against all those wishing to undermine Israel’s economy and its people,' Hegar told the Dallas Morning News.
Jope said that Ben & Jerry's, which has a long history of social activism, had made the decision on its own.
He noted that under its purchase agreement with Ben & Jerry's in 2000, the iconic ice cream company maintained broad independence over its social justice policies and that Unilever respected that arrangement.
'Obviously it's a complex and sensitive matter that elicits very strong feelings,' he said.
'If there is one message I want to underscore in this call, it's that Unilever remains fully committed to our business in Israel.'
That includes a new $41million razor factory, corporate offices and facilities that employ some 2,000 people, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and support for 'social programs,' he said.
He said 'it is not our intent' to regularly delve into such sensitive matters.
'It's been a longstanding issue for Ben & Jerry's,' he said.
'We were aware of this decision by the brand and its independent board, but it's certainly not our intention that every quarter will have one quite as fiery as this one.'
The Florida State Board of Administration says Unilever violated its law prohibiting companies from taking part in boycotts of Israel
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