On Monday, the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA) notified Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) that Unilever, the parent company of “woke” ice cream chain Ben & Jerry’s, had been added to Florida’s List of Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel, which could result in investment prohibition for the company statewide.
Ash Williams, executive director and chief investment officer of the Florida SBA notified DeSantis of the identification. This comes as a result of Ben & Jerry’s announcement on July 19 that it would discontinue business within “Occupied Palestinian Territory” in Israel. Affected areas include Judea and Samaria.
Ben & Jerry’s will end sales of our ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Read our full statement: https://t.co/2mGWYGN4GA pic.twitter.com/kFeu7aXOf3
— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) July 19, 2021
“We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region,” the Ben & Jerry’s statement said. “[W]e have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year.”
DeSantis promptly penned a letter to Williams on July 22 to initiate the process of placing Unilever, and specifically, Ben & Jerry’s on the state’s boycott list. In William’s letter on Monday, addressed to the Governor, he explained that the process is well underway.
“The SBA has instituted the statutory process for identification of companies that boycott Israel as it applies to Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever PLC. The Statute defines a ‘boycott of Israel’ as refusing to deal, terminating business activities, or taking other actions to limit commercial relations with Israel, or persons or entities doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories, in a discriminatory manner,” Williams stated in the letter to DeSantis. “Upon Ben & Jerry’s announcement and consistent with statute, we contacted Unilever directly to request an engagement on behalf of the SBA and to make clear that Unilever as owner of Ben & Jerry’s would be affected by Florida law.”
After a company has been added to Florida’s boycott list, they have 90 days post-placement to cease its boycott of Israel. If not, the company will become subject to an investment prohibition where the State of Florida will not contract the company or its subsidiaries.
“As a matter of law and principle, the State of Florida will not tolerate discrimination against the State of Israel or the Israeli people,” DeSantis said in a press release. “By placing Ben & Jerry’s Fortune 500 parent company Unilever on our List of Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel, Florida is sending a message to corporate America that we will defend our strong relationship with the Jewish State. I will not stand idly by as woke corporate ideologues seek to boycott and divest from our ally, Israel.”
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis chimed in as well. “Israel is a friend of Florida, it’s a thriving democracy with incredible people and culture and Ben & Jerry’s decision to very publicly discriminate against Israel was a shortsighted attempt to virtue signal to folks on the radical left,” Patronis said in a press release. “Thanks to Governor DeSantis for upholding Florida law and sending a strong message to companies everywhere that if you’ve got a problem with Israel, the State of Florida has a problem with you. The second Ben & Jerry’s decided to discriminate against Israel, it affected Florida’s ability to make investments with its parent company. We’ll continue working with the SBA to ensure Florida law is upheld for those who target our friends in Israel.”
At the rate this is going, it appears likely that Ben & Jerry’s will disappear from the Sunshine State soon.