Editor’s note: Mark Hage is an activist with Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel (www.vtjp.org). He lives in Montpelier.
Here was my morning surprise on Thursday, June 27. The Israeli press had reported that McDonald’s franchise in Israel refused an invitation from a mall developer to open a branch in Ariel, an illegal, Jewish-only settlement in the occupied West Bank.
When asked why, McDonald’s said straight out that refusing to operate in the West Bank had always been its policy.
This raises the question: When will Ben & Jerry’s take a page from McDonald’s, and announce that its Israeli franchise, too, will refuse to sell in Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory?
For “Vermont’s Finest,” such a move will require sounding a righteous retreat, because its franchise in Israel is already selling and marketing in the settlements. Ben & Jerry’s social mission, with its commitment to peace and justice, has not been a firewall against commercial complicity with Israel’s illegal settlement regime as one might assume.
Israeli Jews who steal Palestinian land and live like lords on that land in violation of international law crave fine ice cream as much as the rest of us. Those with a taste for American fast food would like the privilege, I imagine, of being able to order a Big Mac with fries at a settlement venue, rather than having to drive to Tel Aviv for the pleasure.
McDonald’s won’t oblige them; Ben & Jerry’s will.
BDS activists worldwide have scored a series of victories against multinational companies embedded in or doing business with the settlements. McDonald’s has deftly sidestepped that fate. What about Ben & Jerry’s?
The owner of McDonald’s franchise in Israel, Omri Padan, is one of the founders of Peace Now, an Israeli organization opposed to its government’s settlement project in thOccupied Palestinian Territority. As far back as 1998, Padan told the newspaper Ha’aretz that he had no intention of opening a McDonald’s beyond the “Green Line” (Israel’s 1967 borders), asserting, “I have the privilege of not needing to compromise on my principles.”
But there are more than principles at play here. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, launched in 2005, has drawn extensive attention to the settlements — their racist policies, land and water crimes, human rights violations, and the military violence and corporate collusion that sustain them.
BDS activists worldwide have scored a series of victories against multinational companies embedded in or doing business with the settlements. McDonald’s has deftly sidestepped that fate. What about Ben & Jerry’s?
Earlier this year, the company became the focus of a homegrown BDS campaign, spearheaded by Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel. But VTJP is not calling for a boycott of the company at this time. Instead, we are urging people of conscience to let the company know that its business in the settlements is wrong. And it must stop. Now.
A first step toward this end would be for the company, with its ethical standards and progressive politics, to issue a public statement taking a stand against selling and investing in the settlements.
Thousands in the United States and abroad have rallied to VTJP’s campaign. Ben & Jerry’s, to its credit, is taking the matter seriously, is talking with us directly, and evaluating how to respond.
For our part, we will continue to urge the company to cease compromising its principles in Israel/Palestine and to terminate its business in Israel’s illegal settlements.
