Coming under fire for Ben & Jerry's decision to stop selling ice cream in Israeli-occupied territories, parent company Unilever sought to assuage concerns of several American Jewish groups, repudiating anti-Semitism and saying Unilever "does not support" the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement.
"Unilever rejects completely and repudiates unequivocally any forms of discrimination or intolerance. Anti-Semitism has no place in any society," the company's CEO Alan Jope wrote in a letter to several Jewish organizations, including the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL), on Tuesday.
The BDS movement seeks to isolate Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians. Thirty-five states in the U.S. have passed bills and executive orders against the movement to discourage boycotts of Israel.