An Illinois board of administrators that oversees state worker pension funds voted on Wednesday to ban such reserves from buying Unilever shares because of its subsidiary’s choice to stop the sale of its ice-creams in unlawful Israeli settlements, Reuters reviews.
A consultant for the Illinois Funding Coverage Board mentioned it voted 7-0 at a gathering on Wednesday “so as to add Unilever to its prohibited entity listing,” following related strikes by different states together with New York and New Jersey.
![Ben & Jerry's to freeze ice-cream sales in West Bank settlements - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/IMG_3210.jpg?resize=500%2C310&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Ben & Jerry’s to freeze ice-cream gross sales in West Financial institution settlements – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]
The precise worth of Unilever shares that state funds should now promote, in the event that they personal them, was not instantly accessible. Members of the board embody representatives of Illinois academics and college retirement techniques and the Illinois State Board of Funding, who didn’t instantly reply to questions.
Unilever representatives didn’t instantly reply to questions.
Like different states, Illinois regulation bars investments in corporations that boycott Israel.
About 35 states within the US have anti-Israel boycott legal guidelines. In September, Arizona turned the primary state to divest from the corporate over what it labelled an “anti-Semitic” transfer.
New Jersey adopted swimsuit, and Texas has introduced that it’s taking steps to divest from Unilever following Ben & Jerry’s choice.
In July, Ben & Jerry’s moved to finish a licence for its ice cream to be bought within the occupied West Financial institution and East Jerusalem, saying gross sales there have been “inconsistent with its values.” This got here following a stream of reviews by human rights groups and the UN, and articles by former Israeli ambassadors labelling Israel as an apartheid state. The ice-cream agency’s founders, Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield defined that the corporate drew a line between what they known as the “democratic territory of Israel and the territories Israel occupies”, stressing that “the choice to halt gross sales outdoors Israel’s democratic borders just isn’t a boycott of Israel.”
Unilever had mentioned the choice was made by Ben & Jerry’s impartial social mission board and mentioned it doesn’t assist efforts to boycott or isolate Israel, the place it employs almost 2,000 folks.
READ: NY state pension fund to divest from Ben & Jerry’s over Israel settlements pullout
