Illinois to divest from Unilever over Ben & Jerry's Israel ban
Illinois is now the fifth state to divest from the company
An Illinois board overseeing state employee pension funds voted on Wednesday to bar funds from holding Unilever shares due to the company's decision to stop selling Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the West Bank.
The Illinois Investment Policy Board voted 7-0 at a meeting "to add Unilever to its prohibited entity list," Reuters reported.
Illinois is now the fifth state to divest from the company. Some states require no further investment; however, they will allow existing assets to remain in place.
Unilever representatives did not immediately respond to questions when asked by Reuters.
In July, Ben & Jerry's announced it would stop selling ice cream in the West Bank, stating, “We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."
Illinois was the first state in the US to sign a law explicitly punishing boycotts of Israel, doing so in 2015.
"This anti-boycott law requires the creation of a state-run blacklist of foreign companies that boycott Israel and “territories controlled by Israel” and compels the state’s pension fund to divest from and prohibit investment in those companies," the bill reads.
Some 33 states followed suit, passing similar laws, known as "anti-BDS laws," referring to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement that seeks to pressure Israel "to comply with international law."