Deplorable:
Iowa is about to have a frosty relationship with Ben & Jerry's.
Lawmakers voted Monday to expand a law against investing state funds in companies that boycott Israel, which Democrats said would target the Vermont-based ice cream maker.
With no discussion, the Iowa Senate voted 40-5 Monday to pass the bill, House File 2373, sending it to Gov. Kim Reynolds' desk. The bill passed the Iowa House last week on a vote of 61-35.
The legislation expands a 2016 law signed by former Gov. Terry Branstad that blocked state funds from being directly invested in companies that boycott Israel. If Reynolds signs the bill, the law would be expanded to include wholly-owned subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries, parent companies or affiliates.
House Democrats said the bill targets Ben & Jerry's, which is a wholly-owned autonomous subsidiary of Unilever, a British consumer goods company. The original law only applied to companies not based in the United States.
"As far as I can tell, the sole purpose of this bill is to amend Iowa Code so that Iowa is able to crack down on Unilever for allowing Ben & Jerry’s to refuse to sell their ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories," Rep. Mary Wolfe, D-Clinton, said last week during the House debate.
Iowa's Public Employees' Retirement System, or IPERS, has about $2.7 million in investments that will be impacted if the bill becomes law, according to an estimate prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.
The entire IPERS Trust Fund has a balance of nearly $43 billion.
Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Adel, the bill's House floor manager, said the purpose of the boycott Israel movement "is to economically destroy and cripple the state of Israel."
"This bill will ensure that our public investments are not funding companies that participate in the boycott, divestment and sanction of Israel movement," he said.
Ben & Jerry's has said it is not boycotting Israel. The company still sells ice cream in Israel, although it does not sell in areas recognized by the United Nations as occupied Palestinian territory.
"Our decision to exit the (occupied Palestinian territory) was based on our belief that it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry's to be present within an internationally recognised illegal occupation," the company says on its website.
Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the company's founders, wrote in a New York Times op-ed following the company's decision in 2021, saying it's possible for the company to support Israel and oppose some of its policies, the same way it's possible to oppose policies of the U.S. government.
"As Jewish supporters of the state of Israel, we fundamentally reject the notion that it is anti-Semitic to question the policies of the state of Israel," they wrote in the op-ed.
A majority of states have laws or other measures designed to discourage boycotts of Israel.
Iowa is about to have a frosty relationship with Ben & Jerry's.
Lawmakers voted Monday to expand a law against investing state funds in companies that boycott Israel, which Democrats said would target the Vermont-based ice cream maker.
With no discussion, the Iowa Senate voted 40-5 Monday to pass the bill, House File 2373, sending it to Gov. Kim Reynolds' desk. The bill passed the Iowa House last week on a vote of 61-35.
The legislation expands a 2016 law signed by former Gov. Terry Branstad that blocked state funds from being directly invested in companies that boycott Israel. If Reynolds signs the bill, the law would be expanded to include wholly-owned subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries, parent companies or affiliates.
House Democrats said the bill targets Ben & Jerry's, which is a wholly-owned autonomous subsidiary of Unilever, a British consumer goods company. The original law only applied to companies not based in the United States.
"As far as I can tell, the sole purpose of this bill is to amend Iowa Code so that Iowa is able to crack down on Unilever for allowing Ben & Jerry’s to refuse to sell their ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories," Rep. Mary Wolfe, D-Clinton, said last week during the House debate.
Iowa's Public Employees' Retirement System, or IPERS, has about $2.7 million in investments that will be impacted if the bill becomes law, according to an estimate prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.
The entire IPERS Trust Fund has a balance of nearly $43 billion.
Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Adel, the bill's House floor manager, said the purpose of the boycott Israel movement "is to economically destroy and cripple the state of Israel."
"This bill will ensure that our public investments are not funding companies that participate in the boycott, divestment and sanction of Israel movement," he said.
Ben & Jerry's has said it is not boycotting Israel. The company still sells ice cream in Israel, although it does not sell in areas recognized by the United Nations as occupied Palestinian territory.
"Our decision to exit the (occupied Palestinian territory) was based on our belief that it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry's to be present within an internationally recognised illegal occupation," the company says on its website.
Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the company's founders, wrote in a New York Times op-ed following the company's decision in 2021, saying it's possible for the company to support Israel and oppose some of its policies, the same way it's possible to oppose policies of the U.S. government.
"As Jewish supporters of the state of Israel, we fundamentally reject the notion that it is anti-Semitic to question the policies of the state of Israel," they wrote in the op-ed.
A majority of states have laws or other measures designed to discourage boycotts of Israel.
