. . . Dianne Lob, Chair, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued the following statement:
“We salute the State of Arizona and, particularly, State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, who announced that the state will divest from all investments in the multinational corporation Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s. This action was taken in response to Ben & Jerry’s decision to cease operations with its Israeli licensee because they refused to engage in a boycott of the communities in the West Bank area. Arizona had already reduced its investment in June from $143 million to $50 million and by the end of the month will have divested completely. Arizona is one of thirty-three states that took action penalizing companies that engage in a boycott of Israel. We encourage other states to follow the example of Arizona and take similar actions.
We remain deeply disappointed that Unilever, a company with a long-standing presence in Israel, will not overturn the discriminatory action by its Ben & Jerry’s subsidiary. The majority of American states recognize that boycotting Israel is not only discriminatory activity, it’s also bad for business and negatively impacts Israelis, as well as Palestinians.”
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