Jewish activist Dov Hikind is calling out New York Governor Kathy Hochul for her inaction on divesting from Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever.
Now that New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has made the decision to divest the state pension fund of its over $100 million in Unilever holdings, Hikind, a former Brooklyn Democratic assemblyman, is asking the governor why she hasn’t announced that the state will follow suit and divest entirely from Unilever.
“State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, we New Yorkers are grateful to you for doing the right thing,” Hikind said in a video posted to social media. “You investigated and you found that Ben & Jerry’s was involved in BDS against the State of Israel. And your people came to the conclusion that this is a violation of the law of New York. And you are divesting from Unilever $111 million.”
Hikind added: “We are so proud of your actions and the actions of your office in doing the right thing. The only democracy in the Middle East, the State of Israel, we boycott and sanction them? As Ben & Jerry’s has done? Unacceptable. Thank you so much comptroller.”
But Hikind wondered why Hochul was not taking similar state wide action against Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s.
In the video, he called out the governor for her lack of responsiveness on the issue, especially in light of a previous executive order that mandated divesting from companies that divest from Israel.
“Now we’re wondering, where is the governor? Kathy Hochul – what is she trying to figure out?” Hikind said. “What doesn’t she get that the comptroller clearly gets? What is she waiting for? Why isn’t she doing the right thing and divesting from Unilever/Ben &Jerry’s – that the state of New York does not purchase anything from them.”
Hikind stressed that the executive order of the former governor was “very clear” and that it said, “If you boycott Israel, we will boycott you. If you divest from Israel, we will divest from you. If you sanction Israel, we will sanction you.”
“Governor, where are you? What are you waiting for? Can’t wait for the conclusion from your office of what you’re going to do,” Hikind said.