Kudos to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for pulling $111 million in pension-fund cash from Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, because of the ice-cream maker’s boycott of Israel.
DiNapoli — the sole manager of the $263 billion state Common Retirement Fund — rightly warned in July that Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling in disputed Israeli-Palestinian territories violated his office’s policy against boycotts of Israel. Now he’s pulled the trigger.
Ben & Jerry’s declared in July that selling in the “occupied Palestinian territories” is “inconsistent with our values.” Its founders, Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, called the decision “brave” and argued in The New York Times that the boycott puts the company on the “right side of history.” Hah! All it really does is take jobs from Palestinians.
DiNapoli’s move puts New York on the right side of history.