Ben & Jerry Employees Forced Into Chilling Training
(TruthandLiberty.com) – In 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield founded Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in South Burlington, Vermont, and the brand soon became a household name worldwide. Twenty years ago, the two founders sold the company to the Unilever corporation, which allowed Cohen and Greenfield to continue running the business. Over the years, the progressive businessmen have run the ice cream company while instilling their leftist values, creating controversy along the way.
On June 13, the Jerusalem Post revealed the latest complaint. Ben & Jerry’s forces new employees to watch controversial videos about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of their new hire orientation. A divisive Palestinian created some of the videos, and the company’s views and actions in the West Bank could lead to serious problems in some states with laws that ban US companies from boycotting Israel.
Ben & Jerry’s New Employees Forced to Watch Propaganda Videos
The company named the video series “the ScooperSeries: Social Mission.” It supposedly designed the videos to address racism in the United States and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2019, Israel expelled Human Rights Watch Director Omar Shakir for supporting boycotts of the Jewish country. Shakir is the New York-based group’s director for Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
In part of the video, reviewed by the Jerusalem Post, Shakir tries to rationalize Israel’s policies from a Palestinian point of view. He called the Israeli government discriminatory against Palestinians and said the country forced the Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. He alleged that the Israeli government was trying to divide the Palestinian population of 2 million people to get them off Israel’s balance sheet.
In 2021, Shakir allegedly counseled Ben & Jerry’s corporate board just before the founders decided to stop selling their ice cream in what they called Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Is Ben & Jerry’s Boycotting Israel?
A company attorney said Ben & Jerry’s is not boycotting Israel. That may be news to several states, including Unilever’s headquarters in New York. In response to the ice cream maker’s decision to withhold products in the region, several Israeli manufacturers, distributors, and companies from numerous states filed a lawsuit against the company.
Complicating matters, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) wrote Unilever to warn that if Ben & Jerry’s didn’t clarify its decision to withhold products from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the state would divest its funds from the company. New York is one of 35 states with laws or executive actions that discourage boycotts of Israel by penalizing companies that won’t do business in the country.
In October, New York Common Retirement Fund (the third-largest in the US) said it divested $111 million in Unilever holdings over the Ben & Jerry’s fiasco. Arizona and New Jersey have already divested their state funds from the company. Hochul warned Unilever it has until July 6 to report it is not engaged in Israeli boycotts or has seized any actions. If not, her state will also divest from Unilever.
Copyright 2022, TruthandLiberty.com
