Ben & Jerry's vs Israel

[Malthus]

This could just be me but it seems like Israel is over-reacting.

Yeah, but they have a good reason. Several years ago Netanyahu gave a speech at the UN where he illustrated Israeli policy.  After the speech he wasn't looking at where he was going and ran into President Rouhani of Iran who was coming up to give his speech.  Both were knocked to the ground and papers flew every which way.  When both men realized who they had run into they frowned, quickly gathered their belongings, and stormed out.  Unfortunately, Netanyahu picked up the Iranian policy papers by mistake and has used them as governing and political policy ever since.

This is a bit behind the times.

Bibi is out of power now.

Though the current guy, Bennett, is also apparently a right wing loon, his actual party is pretty small - he heads a coalition that includes left wing parties and even an Islamic party as members. They share little in common, except the desire to oust Bibi.

[Razgovory]

Damn, I forgot that.  I worked hard on that joke!

[Valmy]

Doesn't boycotting products made in the West Bank end up hurting mostly Palestinian workers?

I have no idea.

But if it is true it kind of illustrates why I oppose to BDS movement in general. The end result would be huge amounts of suffering for the Palestinians and then we would be blamed for it. Sanctions just sort of usually end up that way for us.

But one would think one could sell in Palestinian areas and not in settler ones, but what do I know?

[grumbler]

it's always funny how other illegal occupations (Northern Cyprus, Western Saharan, Crimea, etc) never lead to calls for boycotts from these organisations. Makes it look as if it's not really about illegal occupations at all

It's funny how ideologues make up shit and say "it's always funny" when referring to the shit they just made up.  The reason "it's always funny" is because you are so fucking predictable.  Makes it look like it's not really about honesty at all.

funny how that's always the reaction when hypocrisy is revealed.

Exactly.  That's why I pointed the hypocrisy out.

[crazy canuck]

Doesn't boycotting products made in the West Bank end up hurting mostly Palestinian workers?

I have no idea.

But if it is true it kind of illustrates why I oppose to BDS movement in general. The end result would be huge amounts of suffering for the Palestinians and then we would be blamed for it. Sanctions just sort of usually end up that way for us.

But one would think one could sell in Palestinian areas and not in settler ones, but what do I know?

The US is already being blamed for enabling the illegal settlements.

[Valmy]

Doesn't boycotting products made in the West Bank end up hurting mostly Palestinian workers?

I have no idea.

But if it is true it kind of illustrates why I oppose to BDS movement in general. The end result would be huge amounts of suffering for the Palestinians and then we would be blamed for it. Sanctions just sort of usually end up that way for us.

But one would think one could sell in Palestinian areas and not in settler ones, but what do I know?

The US is already being blamed for enabling the illegal settlements.

So go ahead and starve the Palestinians? No thanks.

I would prefer we just cut off military aid until they behave how we would prefer.

[crazy canuck]

Doesn't boycotting products made in the West Bank end up hurting mostly Palestinian workers?

I have no idea.

But if it is true it kind of illustrates why I oppose to BDS movement in general. The end result would be huge amounts of suffering for the Palestinians and then we would be blamed for it. Sanctions just sort of usually end up that way for us.

But one would think one could sell in Palestinian areas and not in settler ones, but what do I know?

The US is already being blamed for enabling the illegal settlements.

So go ahead and starve the Palestinians? No thanks.

I would prefer we just cut off military aid until they behave how we would prefer.

Well until your government does that - and there is no sign that it ever would - what are the other options?

Besides, if you are very concerned about the plight of Palestinians, propping up the system that is depriving them of essentials is not a great way to go about it.

Also, how does cutting off ice cream to illegal settlements starve Palestinians? 

[The Minsky Moment]

If Unilever doesn't want to do business in the territories that's their business.

Is Israeli wants to retaliate against Unilever, that is Israel's business, subject to any trade or investment treaties to which it may be a party.

But US states should not be imposing sanctions on companies that don't want to do business there.  Both because it violates speech rights and because they should not be supporting or condoning Israeli policy in the territories.

There is and should be a distinction between the BDS concept generally and Israeli policy in West Bank.

[The Minsky Moment]

it's always funny how other illegal occupations (Northern Cyprus, Western Saharan, Crimea, etc) never lead to calls for boycotts from these organisations. Makes it look as if it's not really about illegal occupations at all

I don't know of any US state that has laws sanctioning companies who elect not to do business in those locations. 
Makes it look like its really about politicians trying to strong arm private companies into following their policy preferences to drum up votes.

On the federal level, the US and I think Europe imposed sanctions prohibiting import/export toRussian occupied Crimea.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Damn, I forgot that.  I worked hard on that joke!

I chuckled.