Who is Ben & Jerry’s board chairwoman, Anuradha Mittal, the leading voice behind the company’s decision to boycott Israel?
Mittal is the founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute, a so-called “independent policy think tank” that has published articles in defense of Hezbollah and Hamas.
Mittal’s Twitter account contains at least 107 anti-Israel tweets, including one calling the creation of Israel as a “catastrophe,” according to a video by the Israel Advocacy Movement that can be seen below.
Mittal published an article via her “independent” think tank vouching for progressives to support Hezbollah, which the US designated as a terror organization along with many other countries around the world, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
“You do not have to agree with all of Hezbollah’s ideas to support their resistance to Israel,” the article, written by Green Party Senate candidate Todd Chretien during the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006, stated. “Condemning ‘both sides’ in the Middle East is just like condemning ‘both sides’ in the American Civil War. During the Civil War, with all its complications, one side fought for slavery and the other fought for emancipation. Today in the Middle East, one side fights to rob and pillage, the other seeks self-determination and dignity.”
Chretien continued in the article to call Hezbollah a “hero” that can serve as a model for opposition forces in Arab states, or what he termed “American client states,” to resist their governments, including US soldiers in Iraq.
Mittal also published a policy brief the same year bemoaning the fact that the US “threatened to sever humanitarian aid to the “people of Palestine” which would “bankrupt” Hamas which had “assured the international community that all aid revenues will be used on salaries, daily lives, and infrastructure.”
Not surprisingly, the boycott on Israel is not the first decision Ben & Jerry’s has been criticized for. The ice cream company previously came under fire in 2018 for its decision to partner with anti-Semitic personalities during the Women’s March, including Linda Sarsour.
It’s not surprising that with such an “independent thinker” like Mittal at its helm, who describes herself as an “internationally renowned expert on human rights,” Ben & Jerry’s made the enlightened decision to boycott Israel and cast its lot with Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority – all shining examples of organizations with sterling human rights records.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
The surprise is that the Chof-K keeps its hashgocha on this product. Would they certify a product manufactured by Hamas? Probably. After all, Hamas money is still money.
Chof-K, shame on you!
The only reason you are keeping your hechsher on them is that you refuse to give up a lucrative contract with Ben & Jerry’s. I guess you would give hashgocha on a product even if it is produced by Nazis or leading enemies of Jews.
If money controls your decisions, we all must wonder, how reliable is your hashgocha?!
How far will you go to turn a blind eye to “keep your contractual obligations”?!
You have placed a cloud of suspicion on your hashgocha. Where is your integrity???
So why isn’t Twitter banning Her ?
The problem is that or sets an example for other companies. It could also be that bt removing the hechsher it will have a greater effect as businesses can boycott Jews by not selling products to them
@Rebbitzen Goldenpickanicerscreenname
There are Yidden all over who like Ben & Jerrys and don’t care about their politics. What in the world does giving a kosher certification to a company which is owned by Unilever (not Hamas) have to do with their policy regarding Israel (I’m not saying I support their policy). When you buy Ben & Jerrys you’re supporting Unilever just like when you buy Lipton or Hellmans.
Obviously the Jews who started and run B&J and not really much into being Jewish but liberal so they hired anti semites for their social problems.
We forget there’s also Kleins, Mehadrin, and JJ – shouldnt we support them
@Rebbitzin Why should Chof-K care about what happens in the Zionist state. Let them make money and use it to improve the Hasgacha for God fearing jews all over the world.
She’s an Arab, what do you expect?