The current meltdown taking place over a decision by Ben & Jerry’s to end sales of its product in the Israeli areas of Judea and Samaria, as well as post-1967 areas of Jerusalem, may have been inevitable.
The chair of Ben & Jerry’s “independent board” – Anuradha Mittal – is also the founder and executive director of a think tank that has generously supported terrorism against Israelis by Palestinian Authority fighters — ah, citizens.
In its statement online to explain its decision, the Ben & Jerry’s independent board said, “We believe it is inconsistent with out values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).”
The statement added that the board has been working to change the company’s “longstanding partnership with our licensee who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region,” and informed the franchisee that his license agreement will not be renewed at the end of 2022, when it expires.
The Oakland Institute, an American advocacy organization, has donated thousands of dollars to the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, according to a report this week by The Jewish Chronicle (The JC) in Britain.
According to the NGO Monitor watchdog organization, Badil was founded to promote a Palestinian ‘right of return,’ and is a leader of international BDS campaigns against Israel.
To view a full report on Badil, click here.
The JC notes that Badil claimed in its December 2016 report that “all actions carried out against Israel” are legitimate in the so-called “struggle” by the Palestinian Authority.
“The right to resist of people under foreign and colonial domination, including armed struggle, and the applicability of these provisions to the Palestinian people has been reaffirmed by many other UNGA resolutions,” Badil said in the report.
“In its suppression of resistance, Israel has not only made use of excessive force to stop armed struggle, but it goes as far as to criminalize and suppress demonstrations or even the development an practice of Palestinian culture.
“Equating all forms of resistance with terrorism as a justification for suppression lacks legal basis, as the Palestinian struggle for liberation is legitimate and all actions carried out against Israel for that purpose are therefore lawful.”
Clearly, the Oakland Institute agrees; a not surprising situation, when one contemplates the “social justice” stance of its founder and executive director.
In a 2018 post to Twitter, Mittal wrote, “The catastrophe continues #Nakba70 years later #palestine bleeds Boycott Divest Sanctions #israel.”
Mittal is apparently very good at juggling finances: The grant to Badil from the Oakland Institute came from an $80,000 grant supplied to the think tank by the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, created with funds from the company whose board she chairs.
