BDS fails, Jan. 2022: Stories you likely didn’t see in the British media

Here’s the latest installment in our ongoing series of posts documenting BDS fails – stories of Israeli success that are rarely covered by British media outlets.

Political BDS Fails

Unilever ‘may be unable to offload ice cream’, lawyers warn

Unilever faces an uphill battle to sell Ben & Jerry’s, with lawyers warning that the ice-cream brand’s Left-wing political activism  could pose problems for any prospective buyer.

The consumer goods giant unveiled ambitions last week to offload parts of its business, including lower-growth food brands, in an effort to supercharge a push into health and hygiene

Lawyers claim the stance by the ice cream brand puts Unilever at risk of sanctions and penalties over potential breaches of US and Israeli law, including anti-boycott laws in the US and discrimination legislation in Israel.  

British-Israeli relations have entered a golden era

In recent weeks, London has warmly received official visits from the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the foreign minister Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who enjoys an exceptionally strong bromance with Boris Johnson via WhatsApp. 

These trips have been supported by substantial policy announcements. In November, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss signed a wide-ranging Memorandum of Understanding with Mr Lapid, enhancing cooperation in the realms of cyber, tech, trade and defence.  A number of joint military exercises have taken place over the last couple of years.

In November, Parliament voted to proscribe Hamas in its entirety, rather than just its military wing. This means that those inviting support for the terror group could face up to 14 years in prison. That is something for which Israeli governments have been lobbying for decades.

Illinois divests from Unilever over Ben & Jerry’s

Jewish American groups welcomed on Wednesday a decision by the state of Illinois to divest its pension funds of investments in Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, over the ice cream maker’s decision early this summer to end sales in the occupied West Bank.

The unanimous vote by the Illinois Investment Policy Board, a seven-member panel tasked with ensuring the state doesn’t not invest in entities that are prohibited from investment by Illinois law, came after a 90-day review that determined that Ben & Jerry’s violated the state’s policy against companies involved in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

Israeli Arab Ra’am party leader says Israel will remain a Jewish state

Ra’am chief Mansour Abbas says that Israel will always be a Jewish state.

The head of the Islamist party tells a Channel 12 conference that “Israel was born a Jewish state, that was the decision of the people, and the question is not what is the identity of the state — it was born this way and it will remain this way.”

“The question is what is the status of the Arab citizen in the Jewish State of Israel. That is the question. And this challenge does not just stand in front of Mansour Abbas, but in front of the Jewish community and the Jewish citizen.”

Abbas, whose party made history joining the government coalition, says that “there is no doubt that we are standing at the start of a new era.”

Hatikvah is played at UAE presidential palace.

10 US States will adopt IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism

Economic BDS Fails

Israel’s economy grew by 7% in 2021

Multinational business information company Dun & Bradstreet said Monday that Israel’s economy grew by seven percent in 2021, beating out a global average of 5.9%.

The Dun & Bradstreet report noted that although Israel’s economy was showing significant improvement, driven by a strong tech sector and booming real estate activity, a number of industries such as tourism, restaurants, and entertainment continued to suffer in 2021.

October 2021 – Palestinian exports and imports to Israel increased by 10%

Key facts and figures for UK-Israel trade deal

Bloomberg – A Flood of Cash Flows Into Israel’s Red-Hot Tech Industry

The big money has arrived for what could be the next generation of Israel’s vaunted technology sector.

International investors helped set off a bonanza last year, when Israeli startups raised about $26 billion — more than double the previous high in 2020 and nearly a quarter as much as the funding that poured into Europe as a whole.

Activist investor says Ben & Jerry’s Israel boycott is harming Unilever shares

An activist investor has taken a stake in Unilever — the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s — and is saying the ice cream maker’s boycott of Israel’s occupied territories is to blame for a sharp drop in the company’s share price, The Post has learned.

Since Ben & Jerry’s on July 19 announced it would stop selling its products in what it called “occupied Palestinian territory,” Unilever’s stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange has fallen about 13 percent and lost about $20 billion in market value as various funds — including the New York state pension fund — have said they will pull money out of Unilever.

Technology and Medical BDS Fails

UK Schools using Israeli air filters to filter out Covid-19 particles

Created by Israeli company Aura Air as part of the British government’s “living with the virus” policy, the air filters have been installed in schools across British counties such as Yorkshire, Brighton, Essex and Kent.

Replacing the entire air content in a room across a several-hour period, the air purification system filters out roughly 99.97% of virus and bacterial particles through HEPA air filters, air particle filters, sterilization and disinfection of the air. The devices are effective against all variants of the COVID, including Omicron an Delta, and also remove mold, parasites, toxins and other organic compounds.

Technion researchers develop electricity from seaweed

Technion researchers develop eco-friendly method to harvest electrical current directly from seaweed

Fossil fuelbased energy producing technologies are known ascarbon positive.” This means that the process releases carbon to the atmosphere during fuel combustion. Solar cell technologies are known ascarbonneutral,” no carbon is released to the atmosphere. However, the production of solar cells and their transportation to the site of use is many times morecarbon positive”. The new technology presented here iscarbon negative.” The seaweed absorbs carbon from the atmosphere during the day while growing and releasing oxygen. During harvesting of the current during the day, no carbon is released. During the night, the seaweed releases the normal amount of carbon from respiration. In addition, seaweed, especially Ulva, is grown for a variety of industries: food (Ulva is also considered a superfood), cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Cultural BDS Fails

IOC: Countries banning Israel can’t hold competitions

International sports federations must make sure all countries can compete in their tournaments, the International Olympic Committee emphasized, following the cancellation of the World Team Squash Championship in Malaysia due to Israel’s ban.

“We urge all [international federations] to be extremely vigilant when allocating and organizing international sports competitions,” IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell and Director of Olympic Solidarity James Macleod wrote.

The IOC said the heads of sports federations must make sure to receive written assurances from the governments hosting tournaments that all eligible athletes and teams will be able to compete and be treated equally without any political discrimination, and to make sure those assurances are implemented.

The letter specifically cites the cancellation of the World Team Squash Championship in Malaysia over Kuala Lumpur’s refusal to allow Israeli athletes into the country, as well as the AIBA World Boxing Championship, in which Serbia did not allow Kosovo’s boxing team to compete.

Faraway Road Productions Faraway Road Productions

Lead singer of German hard rockers Rammstein to perform in Israel

Lead vocalist of German hard rock group Rammstein is set to perform in Israel early next year, it was announced Sunday.

Till Lindemann will perform at Toto Hall in Holon on January 1, 2022, as part of a European tour he is set to embark on with his solo project called “Lindermann”.

Most of Tagtgren’s songs are released in two versions, a soft version for the wide audience, and an adult version, for ages 18 and older.

The concert in Israel also has an age limit and members of audience have to be at least 16 to enter due to the video art content in the performance.

Lindemann and Rammstein are known for their unusual performances and theatrical live shows full of accessories, pyrotechnics, costumes, and makeup.

During his career, he has sold over 45 million albums.

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