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Source: https://www.ft.com/content/1aa4d120-2a85-48f0-9829-2692447731b0
Investor Divisions over Israel Risk Conflict for Companies
(Financial Times-UK) Attracta Mooney - After Ben & Jerry's decided to pull out of the West Bank, a series of U.S. pension funds are looking at dumping the company. 35 U.S. states have passed laws to combat the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction movement, which lobbies for companies to stop operating in the territories. Florida's state pension fund, which has $171 million invested in Unilever, this month added the group to its blacklist of companies that boycott Israel. If Ben & Jerry's, which Unilever bought in 2000, does not cease its boycott within 90 days of being listed, the fund will not be allowed to invest in the company. Richard Goldberg, who helped spearhead anti-BDS state law in 2015 as deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs in Illinois, said, "It makes no sense to make a corporate decision to boycott Israel. It is morally wrong, politically wrong and economically wrong for your shareholders....Does denying Jews and Arabs ice cream because of where they live help bring peace?"