Ben & Jerry’s Mandates Anti-Israel Video Lectures for New Employees
Ben & Jerry’s now requires its new employees to watch four video lectures concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which paint Israel as a discriminatory state. The lectures are part of the ice cream company’s video series addressing racism.
Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director, says in one video, “If you look at the recent escalation that took place in May of 2021, it started over discriminatory efforts to force Palestinians out of their homes in occupied East Jerusalem as part of this larger policy… The policy also extends to the Gaza Strip. Although the Israeli government withdrew its settler population and ground forces in 2005, the Israeli government continues to exercise control over Gaza. And our study of Israeli policy over the last 16 years shows that it sought as [well as] pursued a written policy of separation between Gaza and the West Bank. Its enforcement of this policy largely aims to prevent Gaza residents from moving to the West Bank as part of a policy to remove the large Palestinian population in Gaza — 2 million people living in a 25-by-seven-mile territory — off Israel’s demographic balance sheet.”
Last week, 16 Jewish and Christian pro-Israel groups called on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to act against Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever, because of the former’s decision to boycott Israel by not selling its products in Gaza and the West Bank, which it considered “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Hochul then told Unilever the state plans to divest $111 million in shares, as states such as New Jersey, Illinois, and Florida have already done.
Ben & Jerry’s has made some terrible decisions in the name of progressive policies. The company is obviously on the wrong side of history and the truth about Israel and the Palestinians, and it shamelessly doubled down when it withdrew from the Jewish state by not renewing its Ben & Jerry’s Israel franchise this year. This video series seems like another weapon in its arsenal against Israel. Now anyone who wants to work for Ben & Jerry’s will undergo a unique form of indoctrination masquerading as social justice.
Perhaps its attempted virtue-signaling will catch up to the company—whether in profits or in revelation of the truth about Israel. I’d bet on Ben & Jerry’s continuing its ways for the foreseeable future, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see people lose interest in its products as it continues to misplay the moral high ground card.
