All kashrut alerts are serious, and nothing I am going to say should detract from the kashrut alert itself..
I admit, my initial thought when I first saw this alert was that this sounds like a BDS announcement. Anyone else other than a kashrut organization saying this would see a Jewish campaign worldwide against BDS and against the antisemites behind it. Maybe it just needs to be worded slightly differently, I dont know. To my ears it just sounds too similar to other announcements we have seen that are anti-Israel.
Regardless of that, when they say the potatoes are, and grapefruit will be, shemitta produce, I dont know if they mean hetter mechira produce or if they mean actual shemitta produce grown and sold in violation of the laws. Heed the alert but maybe if you get more information and rely on hetter mechira, this possibly would not require a full boycott. I am trying to find out, but for now I do not know.
UPDATE: I asked KLBD for clarification on the shemitta issue. The following is their response:
The heter
mechira is designed to assist farmers and residents of the Land of
Israel through an extremely difficult time, whereas for those living
outside of Israel there is far less need to rely
on this halachic loophole, which has been strongly challenged in the
halachic literature. Thus, the traditional practice of the London Beth
Din, the main European Batei Din and the American kashrut authorities is
NOT to rely on the heter mechira.
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People are still upset with Ben & Jerry's, despite Unilever capitulating and overruling the B&J board of directors decision and reversing the ban on Israel and renewing the contract with Avi Zinger for production and distribution in Israel. Why? Because the board of B&J released an angry statement saying they disagree with the decision blah blah blah.
Personally, I dont care what they think. The fact is, at the end of the day, Unilever made a decision to override the B&J board and get back to business instead of politics. The fact that some Ben and Jerry's people are upset about that does not bother me. In my mind they are a coupl eof grumpy old men who lost. They are saving face saying we disagree with the reversal, but what they are saying is meaningless. I see no need to think about them any longer, and no need to boycott their products (even outside of Israel).
They lost. What they say is meaningless at this point. The decision was taken out of their hands. I dont care what they think, if their thinking it has no ramifications. I am not in the business of mind control - I dont care what people think, and I dont have a need to force them to change their minds..
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Unilever has decided to ignore the wish of Ben and Jerry's to divest from Israel and instead has decided to renew the contract for Israel production and distribution of Ben & Jerry's ice cream with Avi Zinger and he will be allowed to continue his operations as he always has, including selling the ice cream in Judea and Samaria, aka the West Bank. They also explicitly repudiated and disavowed the BDS movement
This is a big win.
A lot of people put a lot of pressure on them for the entire past year over this.
It is somewhat amazing how we will come together and stay focused on the goal for ice cream.
Now we need to celebrate with having Ben & Jerry's Israel come up with a new flavor, maybe based on Manischewitz's new fish dogs with a chrein swirl.
I do wonder if now I can stop buying the ice cream out of solidarity with Ben & Jerry's Israel, while those abroad can now start buying it again....
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We in Israel might be coming to parity with our American brethren soon.
The issue with Ben & Jerry's was weird from the start. After Ben & Jerry's in the USA called for an end to the local franchise due to their not being willing to play along with the demand to not sell ice cream in Judea and Samaria, a boycott was called in the USA against Unilever, the parent company, and States started pulling out their investments, as per their laws against BDS and individuals and communities started boycotting B&J in some way. While in the USA there were all these bans, in Israel the calls were to support the local Ben & Jerry's franchise for providing local employment, and ice cream, and for standing up to the demands of the parent company even to the point of losing the extension of their contract.
Israel is now catching up, though I am not sure how exactly.
According to the Jewish News Syndicate, Justice Minister Gideon Saar has approved sanctions against Ben & Jerry's and Unilever. Saar's approval is to enact the Boycott Law that enables sanctions against companies that harm the Jewish State. Interestingly, Avi Zinger, CEO of Ben & Jerry's Israel, encouraged Saar to move in this direction, calling for Israel to do what it demands of the rest of the world.
I am nto sure in what way Israel would sanction Unilever. Unilever is a major importer and food producer - will they be banned? Seems unlikely. Maybe Israel will cancel government contracts and investments? Not quite sure. I don't quite know how it wil look, if it passes a Knesset vote, but it will be nice to see Israel finally supporting Israel.
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Ben & Jerry's announced several months back that it would stop selling its ice cream in "occupied Palestinian territories" and would not renew the contract with the Israeli manufacturer of Ben & Jerry's due to their refusal to comply. The response while weird made some sort of sense. In Israel we should continue to buy Ben & Jerry's products because doing so was supporting the local manufacturer who put himself on the line against the global company, while Jews and Israel supporters abroad should stop buying the ice creams due to the decision of the parent company. Weird, but it makes sense.
A movement was then formed against the parent company of Ben & Jerry's, Unilever. They gave Ben & Jerry's independence to make such moves, though as the owners of the Ben & Jerry's brand they are exposed to the fallout.
To that end, several states in the USA over the past few months have decided to act on laws passed that prevent them from doing business with or having investments in companies that participate in boycotts of Israel. Several states have decided to stop working with Unilever, with Illinois set to join the group now, planning to divest pension funds invested in Unilever.
This too is a weird situation, but this one doesnt have the same logic to justify it. With ben & Jerry's it made sense to support the local company in standing up to a boycott being imposed. With Unilever, they sell tremendous amount of product in Israel and have a major presence here. States in the USA are ending relations with them while in Israel we continue to support them. I am not calling for a boycott but if I was in the leadership of any of those states I would ask why Israel continues to allow them to do business with nary a word and why we have to divest from them while Israel lets them continue operating as normal...
Are these States more Zionist than the Israelis?
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A prominent Palestinian human rights activist recently filed a complaint in New York state, charging that a Ben & Jerry’s boycott in the West Bank and occupied territories is contributing to “more hatred” in the strife-prone region.
Bassem Eid, 63, filed a complaint with New York state’s Division of Human Rights last month against Conopco Inc., the US division of Unilever that owns the popular ice cream brand.
Eid, a longtime activist who has been critical of abuses by both Israeli armed forces and the Palestinian Authority in the past, claimed the restriction on sales of ice cream in Israeli-occupied territories is “counterproductive to peace and creates only more hatred, enmity and polarization,” according to the complaint.
An award-winning human rights activist who was born in East Jerusalem and grew up in a United Nations-run refugee camp, Eid said the boycott will have an adverse effect on the people it is trying to help.
“I, as a Palestinian, as well as many of my friends, family and other Palestinians, are regular shoppers at Gush Etzion commercial center … where we also frequent to eat ice cream,”said Eid in the complaint. Eid is a resident of Jericho in the West Bank.
“This shopping area is the true realization of coexistence, as both Jews and Muslims from both Israel and the Palestinian-controlled territories … work and shop here,” he said.
Eid likened the boycott to the controversial Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which many Jews have criticized as anti-Semitic. The complaint was filed under New York state’s Lisa Law that prevents New York businesses from engaging in anti-Israel boycott activity, said David Abrams, the New York-based attorney who filed the complaint on Eid’s behalf.
That was unexpected, but the funny part of the story is actually the response of Ben & Jerry's.
A spokesman for Ben & Jerry’s refused comment, and referred a reporter to a page on the company’s website where it addresses the boycott. “Speaking and acting on our values is neither anti-Israel nor anti-Semitic,” the website says.
"speaking and acting on our values is neither anti-Israel nor anti-Semitic".
Second, speaking and acting on your values is only not anti-Israel and antisemitic if your values aren't antisemitic. if they are then acting on them also is.
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Arbel is calling on the various mehadrin kashrut certifiers to withdraw certification from all Unilever products, the parent company of Ben & Jerry's, sold in Israel.
This would be a big blow to Unilever, but why stop at mehadrin certifications? Why not call on the Rabbanut to withdraw certification as well?
I also want to know if Unilever is going to stop selling all their products in the "Occupied Territories" or just Ben & Jerry's? And if just B&J, why is that product different than all the others they sell?
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Ben & Jerry was always a company with Leftist ideas in relation to Israel, but there was never a need to be upset at them because the franchisee in Israel operated independently of the mothership. Ben & Jerry's in Israel sold, sells, good kosher ice cream, with some mehadrin flavors and distributes all over Israel. Despite the well known policies of the parent company.
Ben & Jerry’s Will End Sales of Our Ice Cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
July 19, 2021
We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners.
We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region. We have been working to change this, and so we have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year.
Although Ben & Jerry’s will no longer be sold in the OPT, we will stay in Israel through a different arrangement. We will share an update on this as soon as we’re ready.
I don't call for boycotts, but I don't like this.
Ben & Jerry's Israel has pushed back releasing a statement saying this is unacceptable and ice cream is apolitical. I am not sure how much power they will have n this, considering the B&J statement. We shall see what will happen...
I think it is fair to add that "boycotting" them now will only hurt the current licensee and his employees who are producing and selling all over Israel, including Judea and Samaria and trying to oppose the change, and is seemingly being punished for that (by not having his license renewed in 1.5 years). if you are going to stop buying B&J because of this change in policy, I might suggest you take into consideration to continue buying it for the next year and a half until the license expires, to continue supporting the current licensee, and only after the new policy goes into effect stop buying the ice cream...
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There is this great story going around explaining how Israel became the first country to get so much of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, ahead of so many other countries. Or maybe I should say, how PM Netanyahu was able to convince the CEO of Pfizer to sell to Israel so much so soon, ahead of many others.
The story goes (I do not know the original source for this, though I have seen it posted in several places and have received by both email and whatsapp several times):
Amazing story about why Israel is getting the Covid vaccine before most other countries....
Sixty thousand Jews were in Thessaloniki, Greece on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. A living and vibrant Jewish community. Most of the porters in the port of Thessaloniki were Jews. The port of Thessaloniki was even closed on Saturday. Great rabbis lived there too
It was on this glorious community that the Nazi terror brutally rose.
Hitler took Greece by storm to secure his southern wing before launching Operation Barbarossa and the offensive against Russia.
Out of 60,000 Thessaloniki Jews, about 50,000were exterminated in Birkenau in a very short time.
Few survived.
Among the survivors were the Bourla family. After the war in 1961 a son was born to the Burla family. And they named him Israel - Abraham. (Albert).
Albert grew up and studied veterinary medicine. He received his doctorate in reproductive biotechnology from the Aristotle University of Salonika Veterinary School.
At the age of 34 he moved to the United States. He married a Jewish woman named Miriam and had two children.
In the United States, Bourla was integrated into the medical industry. He progressed very quickly and joined the Pfizer company where he became 'Head of Global Vaccines'.
From there, the road is short for his appointment as CEO of Pfizer in 2019.
Throughout the year, Bourla led the company's efforts to find a vaccine for corona in super efforts.
The vaccine that will save the lives of millions of people around the world was led and pushed by a Jew. Son of Holocaust survivors. From Thessaloniki.
His vaccine will also reach Germany, where 1000s have died from Covid - the vaccine will also save lives there.
And this is why Israel is becoming the first country to receive the vaccine....in memory of Albert’s grandparents.
That leads me to a meme going around now about the Pfizer vaccine. I like a good meme as much as the next guy, but this one just bothers me, and I hate that it makes me defend people I don't like.
Here is the new meme going around:
As much as many BDS supporters are anti-semites, they only boycott Israeli made products. Products made in the country called Israel. They do not, generally (maybe there are some individuals who do, but not as a movement), boycott products made by, and services offered by, Jews in general outside of the country Israel. This meme is fake news, as BDSers have no reason to boycott Pfizer as the CEO is not Israeli. Moderna is also not an Israeli company even though the CEO himself is Israeli, but at least with Pfizer the CEO is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor but not an Israeli.
The meme is both fake news and not cute or funny. The one thing going for it is that if it proves true and somehow does get boycotted (I can see anti-semitic anti-vaxxers taking up this cause), there will be more vaccines for the rest of us.
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BoJo, or Boris Johnson, won the elections in the UK this past week with a resounding victory, trumping the anti-semitic head of the Labour party Jeremy Corbin and handing him a resounding defeat.
BoJo is sometimes described as the British version of Donald Trump, and while he might not be as crass as Trump, he definitely has shown himself to be a good friend of Israel as Trump has.
This week Johnson announced that he plans to pass a law making it illegal for public bodies in the United Kingdom to engage with the anti-Israel BDS movement.
The new Conservative government in the UK will pass a law making it illegal for public bodies to engage with BDS, UK Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues Eric Pickles said at the International Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s conference in Jerusalem on Sunday night.
"BDS is antisemitic and should be treated as such," Pickles said, explaining that the new law will not allow public bodies to work with those who boycott, divest from or sanction Israel in any way.
Notably quotable, Pickles said "Antisemitism is an attack on the British way of life and British identity. Without our Jewish citizens we would be a lesser nation. Without our Jewish citizens, we should be a lesser nation."
As an aside, especially curious to my ears is the position of an envoy with the title "Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues". What the heck does that mean? Will the world for the next 1000 or one million years be called post-Holocaust? What responsibilities fall under the purview of the post-Holocaust envoy?
Congratulations to Boris Johnson, the Conservative party and the British people for loudly saying no to anti-semitism.
.
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According to reports, a student union in the University of Toronto has decided that having kosher food available means one is pro-Israel, and they therefore refused to support the Hillel initiative to make kosher food available on campus.
Satmar, and others, will surely be happy to know that because they eat kosher they also automatically support Israel and the Israeli government.
I do wonder if they also think that eating non-kosher food means you are not pro-Israel, maybe even anti-Israel. If so, much of the Israeli government would be fine with them.
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BDS activists try to prevent everyone and their cousin from coming to Israel, but they have no problem coming to Israel themselves and then cry when Israel prevents them from doing so.
If they want to boycott Israel, boycott us completely and just stay away. And if they think it is ok to boycott Israel, they should not cry when Israel decides to boycott them.
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The BDS movement does not register too many significant victories any longer. Artists and performers come to Israel, professors, college students, movers and shakers - many basically ignore the BDS movement.
Sadly, one of their most significant victories, at least recent victories, has come, and is at the expense of the people they should be trying to help, not hurt.
The Times of Israel is reporting that SodaStream, the company that employed hundreds of Palestinians and managed a mixed Jewish-Palestinian work-space successfully, has succumbed to the BDS movement and fired its last batch of 75 Palestinian employees. For whatever reason, perhaps because of the most recent terror attack perpetrated by a Palestinian employed in a mall in Maaleh Adumim, the Israeli government refused to extend their work permits past February.
The firing of these last 75 or so employees might not be the fault of the BDS movement, at least not directly, but the firing of the hundreds before causing there to be only 75 left is the direct fault of BDS. And, forcing the factory to move and making the continued employment of these last 75 as well to be difficult and challenging is also the fault of the BDS movement.
Too much forest and too few trees are being seen..
Ambassador Dermer sent holiday greetings with gifts around town, including to the White House. The gift Dermer sent was packages of products made in Judea and Samaria - items that the BDS movement targets and that the EU has decided to label for easy identification (for potential boycotting).
Takes a bit of chutzpah.
Had he been in the EU it would make some sense. Sending it to US diplomats and politicians, people who have opposed the BDS and the labeling movements, makes less sense.
