ICE CREAM AND HAMBURGERS
Ben & Jerry’s is still making news and causing a furor in the Jewish community. 90 lawmakers in Israel’s Knesset, from across the political spectrum, sent a letter to Unilever, Ben&Jerry’s parent company, demanding the company rescind the move to ban the sale of the popular ice cream in the West Bank. According to Ynetnews, the MKs call the B&J’s move “severely hypocritical.” The MKs pointed out that Palestinians who work for B&J’s in Israel will also be out of a job. “"This decision goes against Israeli law: the Prohibition of Discrimination in Products and the Ban of Boycotting Areas of Israel," the letter said, urging the company to reconsider.
According to the report, pro-Palestinian groups pressured Avi Zenger, B&J’s local licensee, who has held the license since 1987, to cut sales to the West Bank. A number of states in the US have said that they were going to pull their pension funds’ investments out of Unilever since the company is in violation of laws in their states banning business with any company boycotting Israel.
However, Ben & Jerry’s founders Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who sold the company to Unilever in 2000 and are no longer connected to the firm, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece that the company is not Anti-Semitic. The two wrote that they support Israel but oppose what they termed Israel’s “Illegal occupation of the West Bank…that is a barrier to peace and violates the basic human rights of the Palestinian people who live under the occupation.”
Unilever CEO Alan Jope said in a letter sent to the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) as well as other Jewish organizations, that Unilever does not support the BDS boycott movement. Jope wrote that Unilever was “fully committed” to doing business with Israel. This, according to pundits, was Jope’s attempt to distance himself from the decision of the independent board of Ben and Jerry’s to enforce a boycott of the ice cream’s sales in the West Bank.
Meanwhile an analysis in the Times of Israel by Jacob Magid asked how the fast-food hamburger chain“McDonald’s took the same stance as Ben & Jerry’s but avoided a public backlash.” This prompted a response from one observer who said “That just shows that some journalists don’t always do their homework.” The observer pointed out a basic difference between McD’s and B&J’s. B&J’s board decided to pressure Avi Zenger, their Israeli licensee, to stop selling in the West Bank. When he refused the Ben & Jerry’s board notified Zenger that his license would not be renewed.
The McDonald’s case is different, said the observer. McDonald’s began operating in 1993 in Israel. Omri Padan is the president of Alonyal, a group of seven local businessmen, who were awarded the franchise. Omri Padan, according to the Israeli site Calcalist, is “a businessman and philanthropist known for his liberal political views, and one of the founders of Israeli activist group Shalom Achshav (Peace Now), a prominent advocate against Israel’s presence in the occupied territories.” The article went on, “In 2013, McDonald’s raised some controversy in Israel when it refused a request to open a restaurant in a mall in Ariel, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, stating its longstanding policy is to avoid activity in land occupied by Israel during the Six Day War in 1967.”
Omri Padan, President of Alonyal, McD’s Israeli franchise operator
Unlike Ben & Jerry’s, McDonald’s corporate’s policy is to let a franchisee run his own business, said the observer, as long as they meet McD’s stringent standards, that include among other things color scheme, kitchen design, uniforms, and menu, McDonald’s didn’t interfere with how the franchisee ran the business. Padan proved that he could expand McD’s business nicely without opening up in the West Bank. McD’s now has about 180 stores in Israel with sales of about $300 million. But, said the observer, he was never told by the corporate headquarters not to sell in the West Bank.
BDS related. In the US, approximately 50 academics have resigned from the academic union at CUNY (City University of New York) in Brooklyn over the faculty union’s statement critical of Israel. The PSC, Professional Staff Congress, passed a resolution following the May 11th war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
HEALTH:
Prof. Nachum Ash, director-general of Israel’s health ministry, announced on Thursday that Israelis 60+ would begin to receive a third C-19 “booster” vaccine. This after Prime Minister Bennett accepted the report by a panel of Israeli health experts who recommended the third vaccine for that age group. Reportedly, after six-months the efficacy of the vaccine drops from 97% to about 81% or lower.
The director-general has told the local HMOs to begin administering the third vaccine on Sunday, August 1st. Israel has already set a world record by administering the third “booster” vaccine to those with a seriously compromised immune system. In the US, Prof. Anthony Faucci has said that a third shot is likely for those most vulnerable.
Prof. Gabi Barabash, former director general of Israel’s health minist Bry, told Channel 12 TV that in his opinion using the Moderna vaccine for the the third shot with the two Pfizer shots already administered would produce more antibodies to fight off the C-19. He admitted, however, that Israel has already bought an ample supply of the Pfizer vaccines and there was little chance they would also buy more from Moderna.
STATISTICS
According to ncov2019.live/data, the USA has seen 35,487,490 cases of the infection, with 628,098 deaths, and 5,255,434 active cases. Worldwide there are 196,820,227 cases with 4,205,314 deaths and 19,799,388 active cases.
In Israel, the state’s Kan Reshet Bet radio reported that there were 2165 new cases on Wednesday, with 159 serious cases, 26 patients on ventilators and nearly 15,000 active cases. This even though 55% of Israelis have been double vaccinated. Health officials predict that by the end of August Israel will see upwards of 1000 serious cases. Hospitals have begun reopening their Corona Virus wards in anticipation of the wave of those seriously ill from the virus.
Reportedly, the health ministry has added Greece, Bulgaria and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) to the growing list of countries Israelis are forbidden to visit. On Tuesday, 212 people arriving at Ben Gurion airport tested positive for C-19. 102 were over 60.(76 had been fully vaccinated), 39 were between the ages of 40-65, and 16 were under 40. Of the 212 cases, 62 were from Turkey (experts say this was due to the recent Moslem holiday Eid al Adha celebrating Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac) 51 from Greece, 18 from the USA and 6 from Russia.
In an attempt to stem the rapid rise of the virus the health ministry has issued a regulation prohibiting anyone from entering the airport, neither the greeting hall nor the checkin area, except those with a ticket to travel, or those who work in the airport.
Masks are now mandatory at all large events, indoors and outdoors, also at gyms and restaurants. The health ministry has also reimposed the Green Pass, a certificate proving they’d been double vaccinated. People attending gatherings of over a hundred people, indoors or outdoors, must show the green pass or proof they’ve recovered from the virus or a negative test taken within 72-hours, (children under 12 are exempt from these conditions.) PCR tests will be free until August 8. Businesses found in violation of the regulations will be fined 10,000 shekels (@$3,200).
Rapid tests can be taken up to 24-hours before the event, but they will not be free. A number of sites are listed for the tests, but tests purchased at a pharmacy over the counter will not be valid. Protests over the new regulations have come from the restaurant industry and representative of gym and work-out studios.
Israel’s popular singer Matti Caspi has reportedly cancelled a series of concerts because, he said, “the restrictions won’t allow my fans to come to my shows…I won’t cooperate with a dictatorship or fascism.”
On the political front, Israel’s coalition government has had some successes and some failures. A bill to reform how the Kasruth certificates are issued has passed, but a bill to legalize marijuana failed to pass. So far, the new coalition government has shown surprising resilience. There are battles between the health ministry and the education ministry over administering vaccines to children in schools, which open in September.
