Lee Zeldin to Newsmax: Ben and Jerry's 'Participating in the BDS Movement'

Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., told Newsmax on Tuesday that ice cream maker Ben and Jerry’s decision to suspend sales in Palestinian territories means the company is “essentially participating” in the boycott, divest and sanction movement.

“Years ago, New York state enacted an executive order that said that the state would not be doing business with entities advancing the BDS movement here,” Zeldin said on “American Agenda” on Tuesday.

“The decision that's made by Ben and Jerry's and with its parent company, Unilever, they are essentially participating in the BDS movement. They are targeting hundreds of thousands of Jewish customers abroad, and I believe that just following the executive order of New York state would mean that the state would now be listing Ben and Jerry's [and] Unilever on its site, but also suspending doing any business whatsoever from these entities. 

Zeldin said, “I'm just asking for the state to follow its own executive order,” and added later, “Ben and Jerry's in Israel didn't want to participate in this, and actually, this is a decision that is succumbing to several years of pressure placed on this company. And it's something that is unfairly and discriminately targeting people of a certain faith oversees. 

He went on to accuse “the BDS movement” of having “a founder who was blatantly anti-Semitic,” and said “the movement itself is blatantly anti-Semitic. It's seeking to target and punish Israel economically, and then also what we're seeing on college campuses here in our own country is that you have Jewish students targeted with blatant anti-Semitism in the name of the BDS movement. So, this isn't a conversation about ice cream. This is a conversation about the targeting of people based on faith, the targeting of a country in a way that many seek to not just manifest their positions through words and protests, but we've seen it as a pinnacle end up resulting in violence.”

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