A Jewish watchdog group has selected the chair of Ben & Jerry’s board of directors as its “Antisemite of the Year” for withdrawing the company’s ice cream from Israeli settlements.
StopAntisemitism.org announced Monday that thousands of people had voted for Anuradha Mittal, the executive who announced in July that Ben & Jerry’s would boycott more than 140 Jewish communities in the occupied territories.
“This woman seems to have an obsession with the Jewish nation,” said Liora Rez, who founded the advocacy group in 2018. “It’s nothing but an anti-Semitic ploy to vilify the Jewish nation and people.”
Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, did not respond Monday to a request for comment.
But NBC News reported on July 19 that Unilever had tried to override the decision of Mittal’s board, saying in a statement that it remained “fully committed to our presence in Israel, where we have invested in our people, brands and business for several decades.”
Ms. Mittal, noting that Ben & Jerry’s independent board consists of “all women and people of color who have been pushing to do the right thing,” said it had been fighting Unilever since their 2000 merger to end a licensing agreement with Israel that expires in December 2022.
“We want this company to be led by values and not be dictated by the parent company,” Ms. Mittal said in the NBC News report.
The nonprofit’s voters chose Ms. Mittal from a list of other candidates, including finalists British pop star Dua Lipa and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican. Both have been accused of making anti-Semitic comments online.
Marc Greendorfer, president of the Zachor Legal Institute, a civil rights organization that combats anti-Semitism, called the choice of Ms. Mittal “well deserved.”
“The other two finalists engaged in somewhat isolated incidents of anti-Semitism, but Mittal has seemingly devoted her life to furthering her agenda against Jews and was somehow able to obtain the massive resources of a large international company in support of it,” Mr. Greendorfer said.
More than 10,000 people voted in the contest between Nov. 15 and Dec. 26.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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