Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis starts food fight with Ben & Jerry's over ice cream in Israel
"I will not stand idly by as woke corporate ideologues seek to boycott and divest from our ally, Israel," Gov. DeSantis said.
Ben & Jerry’s may not be available at Florida high school and college football games this season now that Gov. Ron DeSantis has escalated his fight with the ice cream maker over an Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
This week, the state placed Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, on Florida’s list of "Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel."
Unilever now has 90 days to “cease and desist” what DeSantis is calling its "boycott" of Israel or face a Florida government snubbing of its more than 400 brands including Lipton Tea, Hellmann’s and Dove soap.
National discussion:Israeli leaders are asking states to sanction Ben & Jerry's after Palestinian boycott
DeSantis had the State Board of Administration, which oversees the state's investments, investigate whether Unilever was in violation of an amendment to a 2007 law that prohibits state agencies from doing business with companies the SBA believes is at odds with U.S. foreign policy.
Support for Israel is a "red meat" issue for the conservative voting base. The Republican DeSantis, who is expected to run for reelection next year, once promised to be “the most pro-Israel governor in America," leading a trade mission and state Cabinet meeting there in 2019.
Ben & Jerry’s founders' Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who are Jewish, prompted the investigation when they said they would stop selling their ice cream in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory this December. That's when a licensing agreement expires.
That announcement may land Unilever on a list of more than 60 blacklisted companies prohibited from doing business with the State of Florida; that is, no state money is allowed to be invested in the company or may be used to purchase products from it.
“By placing Ben & Jerry’s Fortune 500 parent company Unilever on our List of Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel, Florida is sending a message to corporate America that we will defend our strong relationship with the Jewish State," DeSantis said in a statement.
"I will not stand idly by as woke corporate ideologues seek to boycott and divest from our ally, Israel," he added.
Cohen and Greenfield have said they think selling their products in the occupied West Bank is “inconsistent with our values.”
Ben & Jerry’s is distributed in Israel through a licensing agreement with a local franchisee that also supplies grocery stores in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. That agreement expires in December and Unilever will not renew it. The company is looking for another franchisee but has yet to announce any new arrangements.
Those who support their decision cite polls showing nearly two-thirds of American Jews support a two-state solution and a demilitarized West Bank.
“Israel is a friend of Florida," state CFO Jimmy Patronis added in his own statement. "It’s a thriving democracy with incredible people and culture ... Ben & Jerry’s decision to very publicly discriminate against Israel was a shortsighted attempt to virtue signal to folks on the radical left.”
Unilever now must either “cease its boycott” of Israel or join the list of other companies Florida refuses to do business with because of their position on Israel's West Bank policies.
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee
Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat using the link at the top of the page.