A Dish Best Served Cold: Texas Looks to Ban Ben & Jerry’s After Anti-Israel Stunt

Gabriel Hays | July 23, 2021
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Ben & Jerry’s might be receiving a Texas-sized crater in its revenue after it moved to terminate ice cream sales in the West Bank of Israel and other Israeli territories that Palestinians think they have the right to.

FoxNews.com reported on July 22 that according to Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar, Ben & Jerry’s may have violated the state’s BDS laws against boycotting the state of Israel. If that’s the case, the ice cream company may be banned from the entire state. Hmm, we wonder if all of Ben & Jerry’s far left virtue-signaling is worth such a hit to its revenue.

As MRCTV reported on Ben & Jerry’s controversial boycott of Israeli territories on July 21, the ice cream company decided to not renew its contract to sell its product in the Israeli territories after the contract ends next year. Reuters even claimed that the Unilever subsidiary company had bowed to “Palestinian pressure campaigns.” 

Fox News characterized Ben & Jerry’s move as being “part of a larger Palestinian-led campaign to protest Israeli involvement in the West Bank and Gaza strip."

Of course, that goes against Israel’s right to those territories that it acquired in 1967. Thankfully, Texas law refuses to ignore businesses' attempts to undermine to Israeli sovereignty. According to Fox, “Texas law under Chapter 808 bars companies from refusing, terminating business or taking ‘any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on or limit commercial relations’ with Israel.”

So, unless Ben & Jerry’s decides to renew its contracts with vendors in those parts of Israel that Palestine wants, then it could be banned in Texas. Hegar commented on July 22, “Texans have made it very clear that they stand with Israel and its people. We oppose actions that could undermine Israel's economy and its people."

The State Comptroller has since directed his staff to look into whether the ice cream company or its parent company have violated any of his state’s “Boycott Israel” laws. 

In addition to Texas lawmakers being stern with the ice cream company, Florida officials and a couple of politicians from New York, including Democrat New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) blasted Ben & Jerry’s move. De Blasio quipped that he would be forgoing “Cherry Garcia for a while,” and Malliotakis urged people to “take a stand” against the ice cream company.

Though, most likely, many people who elected the Republican congresswoman have been boycotting Ben & Jerry’s for a while now. Boycotting Israel is the latest in a long series of woke stunts from the company. For example, last summer the company promoted Black Lives Matter propaganda.

Comptroller Hegar also threw out a Texas-sized taunt Ben & Jerry’s way in his statement, saying, “Blue Bell was founded in Brenham, Texas, and, for my money, tastes much better than the stuck-up stuff made by a foreign-owned company started in Vermont." Ouch, guys. Put one of your overpriced frozen pints on that burn.

Related: Ben & Jerry's Goes FULL BDS: Will Stop Selling Ice Cream in Israel’s West Bank

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