Ninety MKs on Wednesday signed a call to Unilever suggesting its Ben & Jerry’s boycott is contrary to Israeli law and is shameful, as well as detrimental to the livelihoods of hundreds of families, Amit Segal reported.
The request initiated by MK Merav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid) was signed, among others, by former prime minister Netanyahu.
MKs from the Arab factions and Meretz refused to sign, except for MK Yair Golan (Meretz), who has since retracted his signature.
Meanwhile, it turned out that Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer, head of the Israel Democracy Institute, who had been picked by Meretz and approved by Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar for a committee that works on his Basic Law: Legislation bill, had signed a pro-BDS letter from leftist Israelis to Ben & Jerry’s. On Tuesday, Likud whip Yariv Levin requested that Sa’ar drop Kremnitzer.
The letter (with Kremnitzer’s name circled in red) reads:
“Dear Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield,
We wanted you to know that there are other views in Israel. Thank you for your commitment to the human rights of the Palestinians.”
MK Levin added: “Moreover, I have warned in the past that the composition of the committee may lead to the opposite of the desired result, in particular considering the positions of some of its members, in particular Professor Kremnitzer. Yesterday, a petition was presented to me, which was also signed by Professor Kremnitzer, supporting Ben & Jerry’s decision to boycott the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.
“Clearly, anyone who signs a petition to boycott Israeli citizens and the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria is not worthy of serving in any government body, and certainly not in the committee that was personally appointed by you as Justice Minister of Justice.
“I will note in this context that a member of your party, Minister Zeev Elkin, was at the time one of the initiators of the law designed to fight the boycott of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. A situation whereby one member of your party is supposedly working to prevent the boycotts, while you appoint the person who backs the boycotts is absurd and hypocritical.
“Under these serious circumstances, I request that you announce immediately the cancellation of the appointment of Professor Kremnitzer as a member of the committee you established for the preparation of the Basic Law: Legislation.”
Now, that’s embarrassing.