New York State's pension fund will pull $111 million in investments from the firm which owns Ben & Jerry's, due to the ice cream manufacturer's boycott of Israel, the New York Post reported.
New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who serves as the sole manager of the $263 billion state Common Retirement Fund, said the ice cream company's decision to cease selling ice cream in Judea and Samaria violated his office's anti-BDS policy, the Post added.
The policy was established in June 2016, and states that BDS activities are intended to inflict economic harm on Israel. NYS' state pension fund invests over $800 million in retirement funds in Israel. Companies which involved themselves in BDS activities were placed on notice that the state would pull its pension investments, the site added.
In a statement to the Post, DiNapoli said, "After a thorough review, the New York State Common Retirement Fund will divest its equity holdings in Unilever PLC. Our review of the activities of the company, and its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s, found they engaged in BDS activities under our pension fund’s policy."
A spokesman for DiNapoli said, "We will be divesting those investments. Ben & Jerry’s engaged in BDS activities."
Former NY State Assemblyman Dov Hikind tweeted: "BREAKING NEWS: NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has just informed me that NYS will divest from Unilever over the boycott of Israel by Ben and Jerry's. This will cost Unilever 111 million dollars. BDS=Antisemitism. G-d bless Tom DiNapoli for doing what's right."
Several other US states have also announced they would divest from Unilever. These include New Jersey, Arizona and Florida and Texas.