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We, at EMET and the BZD were shocked to learn that Ben and Jerry’s ice cream has decided to boycott stores in what they term “Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem.” This is yet another shallow attempt at “virtue signaling” and comes out of sheer ignorance regarding the long and “rocky road” of the history of the conflict. Like the product it sells which is replete with empty calories, and devoid of nutritional value, this is high on patting oneself on the back and totally devoid of substance.
We call on everyone, therefore, to boycott Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, and to work with us on re-introducing and finally passing the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, a bill that was first introduced by Senator Ben Cardin, (D, Maryland) and Rob Portman, (R, Ohio), but died in the 115th Congress.
It is unfortunate that those behind the decision are clearly oblivious to the fact that the Palestinians could have had an independent Palestinian state a long time ago, living side by side in peace and security with Israel, had they ever simply accepted the myriad offers given to the Palestinians.
This is a sign of the times about just how profoundly ignorant the “woke generation” and those who spend their lives trying to be “cool” are of some basic historical facts.
Starting way back in 1937, the Peel Commission had suggested an independent Jewish state, a Palestinian state, and a “Holy Basin”, for the religious sites. The Arab League rejected that, simply because they opposed the idea of a Jewish state. In 1947, the United Nations wanted to partition the land into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Again, the Arab League rejected it and waged war on the fledgling Jewish enterprise.
In 1964, a full three years before the 1967 war, the Palestinian Liberation Organization was created. This therefore could have nothing to do with any “settlements” outside the green line. They simply wanted to eradicate any Jewish presence in the land of Israel.
On July 25, 2000, an exceedingly generous offer was made at a summit between Chairman Yassir Arafat of the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel, and President Bill Clinton, in which Israel offered 97 percent of the West Bank, (Judea and Samaria), with a “right of return” of thousands of Palestinian refugees, and a division of the Old City of Jerusalem into Israeli and Palestinian segments. The Palestinians neither agreed nor disagreed, but simply walked away from the negotiating table.
This offer was only to be exceeded in 2008, by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen at Sharim al Sheik, where they offered to give back almost the entirety of the West Bank and the partition of Jerusalem on a demographic basis. This again was rejected by Israel’s Palestinian interlocutors.
In 2005, in the absence of a willing Palestinian peace partner, Israel decided to unilaterally withdraw from the entirety of the Gaza strip, uprooting more than 8,000 Jews from their homes, offering the Palestinians the ability to prove to the world, once and for all, that they could exist side-by-side in peace and democracy. Rabbis offered to give the synagogues to be turned into mosques, because as they said, “We all pray to the same God.” Some Jews of means purchased the greenhouses so that the “nascent Palestinian state would have some sort of economic infrastructure.” The minute the blue and white Israeli flag was lowered, and the last I.D.F (Israeli Defense Forces) soldier closed the gate, those greenhouses and synagogues were destroyed in a hate-infested display of anarchy. They simply reviled Jews so much they wanted to rid Gaza of any remnant of a Jewish presence.
After a brief power-sharing arrangement between Fatah and Hamas, Hamas violently took control of Gaza in 2007. It is now an outpost of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is the site from which thousands of balloons and kites with incendiary devices attached to them, and missiles have been launched into Israeli residential communities, to wreak havoc and obliterate the Jewish state.
Caren Leven, Executive Director of Baltimore Zionist District, "It's shameful that a company founded by two Jewish friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield has now ended up in the worst possible scenario. Turning their backs not only on their own people but in return their homeland. As Jewish people we make it a point to support each other in business everyday, to help one another grow, flourish and be successful. To wake up and see that a company has now boycotted a piece of our land our history to satisfy a woke agenda, is nothing less than an embarrassment"
Says Sarah Stern, Founder, and President of EMET, “It is a horrible shame that so many of the so-called “woke” people have never bothered to educate themselves about the basic facts and true history of the Israeli Palestinian dispute. If they had, they would soon realize that it is not the settlements that are the reason for the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, but the absolute refusal of the Palestinians to negotiate in good faith with the Israelis and accept any one of their very generous offers. The folks behind this decision should stick to ice cream making, and please spare us from their” virtue signaling.”
To contact your member of Congress about re-introducing and passing the Israel Anti-Boycott Legislation, please dial (202) 224-3121. Thank you very much. Every voice counts.
EMET is an unabashedly pro-Israeli and pro-American think tank and policy shop in Washington, D.C.
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