The protest against Israeli cruise passengers is planned for Tuesday at 09:00 at Souda port near the city of Chania. This is the third protest this year against the ship, following protests held in the summer and on November 4.

The protest is being led, again, by the teachers' union ELME (the Greek teachers' federation), which will allow teachers to stop classes for three hours (09:00-12:00) to enable them to participate in the protest.

"Soldiers taking a break from killing"

In the teachers' union announcement published Monday morning in media outlets on the island, it stated, "Israel, despite the ceasefire, has not stopped bombing Gaza, killing civilians and advancing in the West Bank. The genocidal policy of the murderous state continues and will continue as long as the occupation exists. There can be no peace without justice."

According to the announcement, the cruise ship is not just transporting tourists from Israel, but "constitutes part of a systematic effort to whitewash the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank through tourism." The announcement claimed that the ship transports soldiers "taking a break from killing" and as "tourists" walk around Greece singing songs like "Death to Arabs" and "Gaza is a cemetery."

As recalled, during the ship's previous visit to Crete on November 4, police made extensive use of tear gas against protesters and made arrests. Ship passengers were delayed for a long time on buses due to the protest. In the summer, the ship's route caused a chain of protests throughout Greece.

As mentioned, this morning's announcement called on tour guides, port workers, and food service and tourism workers in Crete "to make appropriate decisions and not cooperate, not to serve the murderers from Israel."

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A Jewish student at the University of Connecticut says she feels betrayed after being thrown out of her a cappella group, saying she was called a "white supremacist," "f***ing Zionist" and a f***ing b*tch, and has received threats after a Feb. 28 incident was mischaracterized online.

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Natalie Shclover, a senior in the Business School at the University of Connecticut and a member of the Honors College, told JNS that she and her Muslim boyfriend, Zacharia El-Tayyeb, were bothered by fliers put up by the Muslim Student Association that stated as fact that Israel was an apartheid state and included an image a map of Israel with interim university president, Dr. Radenka Maric, on one side and a baby being strangled. This, she said was due to Maric's announcement on Instagram that she would visit Israel on a trip with Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Conn.). Shclover said she discarded a few fliers that were covering ones posted by the campus Chabad or Hillel or were in excess, which violates school rules because only one flier is supposed to be affixed to each bulletin board, or were piled on or had fallen to the floor.

When she and her boyfriend went to the third floor and he removed excess fliers, she was badgered and called names. A video with a caption claims that she harassed Muslim students, but the video only shows students hurling slurs at her.
The senior, who was president and music director of the UConn Chordials, said in a Zoom meeting that she was told she was being kicked out of the group and given no chance to explain her side of the story. She had worked on an agreement to secure $10,000 to make an album and had done arrangements for the group, she said, and suddenly, she was out.

"I believe they first met on their own, then joined me into their Zoom call and dismissed me, saying they had no other choice" but to do so, she said. "They said basically that 'after discussing the events, we have decided we need to dismiss you.' I mentioned it was a mischaracterization of my character and unjust, and that was the end of it."

'That's where I felt the safest'

The UConn Chordials released a statement that they "do not tolerate behaviors that cause pain, distress or damage to others; especially those of a different race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. …These actions do not reflect the beliefs of the UConn Chordials as a whole, or the UConn a cappella community. We sincerely apologize for the actions of our former president. We hear you, we take accountability, and we promise to show you that we are better than this moving forward."

Shclover said she auditioned three-and-a-half years ago with the song "Lullaby of Birdland" by Ella Fitzgerald and made the group.

"When I first joined a cappella, it was sort of the last straw try for me at the university because I was having a hard time adjusting and was considering transferring," she said. "But 'The Chordials' became my home. That's where I felt the safest."

She said she lives with one member of the group, as well as a Christian former member who resigned because she didn't believe it was right to throw Shclover out "without due process."

She was slated to sing a solo of "Summertime" in her final show on April 30. Now, she doesn't know if the group will even have a show or if someone else will sing the song.

Asked if she would go back to the group if they reinstated her, she replied: "No, I don't think so because I don't think that would help the damage that has been caused. I hope they will learn from their mistakes. I feel betrayed. I can't look at them with the same perspective anymore. But I would never wish anything bad upon them because they were my safe haven for [a while], and I wouldn't want that opportunity to be taken away from someone else. The UConn A Cappella Association needs to take accountability for not treating me fairly."

Shclover said she was not able to get in touch with anyone from the association despite multiple attempts. She said she had been elected president by a unanimous 14-0 margin and expected group members to know the person she was. She said after the video went viral, she was inundated with threats, including one person who messaged: "I swear to God, the next time I see you, I'll slap you."

She said other students stared her down in a threatening manner; she believed they had seen the video, and that this was the result. The campus newspaper printed a story that didn't name her but stated that Muslim students had been harassed.

'It's disheartening and shocking' 

El-Tayyeb said it was surprising to see how quickly the members of the group turned on his girlfriend without any evidence that she harassed anyone.

He also said he was attracted to her humor and her ability to relate to people. "You open a random door and people come in, and you know she'll make friends," he said.

He added that he hoped a byproduct of the relationship would be to bring Jews and Muslims closer. The pre-law student said there was likely no due process because the group "wanted to appease the crowd" and possibly feared that keeping her in the group could result in boycotts.

Currently, there is a change.org petition titled "Protect UConn Student From Antisemitic Harassment" that as of Thursday has 680 signatures.

Shclover said she hopes Jews and Muslims can come together, as she is a person who respects differences of opinion and is unhappy that the campus has done nothing about the slurs used against her. She said she called a campus representative who replied that the insults, however disgusting they may seem, are protected by free speech. She added that her parents, who fled Moscow in 1991, are supportive of her and her efforts to contact the university president. So far, she said she hasn't gotten a response.

She noted that two weeks prior to the Feb. 28 incident, two Muslim female students reported slurs against them yelled from people in a car on campus, and the university sent out an e-mail and made an issue of it. She said she was surprised that her offer to the campus newspaper to present her side of the story was rejected.

"I think the university has done a good job of looking into cases of Islamophobia in the past, and I think all students should be treated fairly," she said. "In my case, I don't feel supported by the university or students. The system has failed me. It is institutional antisemitism."

In response to questions to the president's office, a statement by the president that was sent and said to have gone out to the UConn community noted that "during the course of the argument, a student called one of the two students who had been throwing the fliers away a series of crude insults, as well as calling her a "f*****g Zionist. What we know of it is based on a short video posted on social media and subsequent statements from each of those involved. The students throwing the fliers away, one of whom is Muslim and one of whom is Jewish, noted that some of the insults directed at the Jewish student were antisemitic in nature, which is unacceptable in any context."

Shclover said the term "Zionist" as a slur has the potential to incite violence against Jews, and that she has been maligned as harassing Muslim students without evidence.

"The incident was heated enough that the police were contacted, continues the president's statement. "UConn Police investigated and issued their report this past week. It was determined that nothing criminal took place on either side. The Division of Student Affairs also investigated and concluded that nothing said or done by anyone involved violated the Student Code of Conduct, a determination that was finalized this past Friday. Both concluded that, whatever else they were, the words spoken and actions taken fell into the category of free speech. Regardless of content or message, the university cannot and does not sanction students for the things they say while exercising this right."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The boycott of Jews has a long and sordid history.

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A classic weapon of antisemitism, the boycott ostracizes and disenfranchises Jews by depriving them of education, livelihoods, civil rights and camaraderie. Historic manifestations of the antisemitic boycott include barring Jews from practicing certain professions or holding agricultural leases, denying Jews membership in associations, societies and guilds, limiting the numbers of Jews allowed to attend universities, picketing Jewish businesses and pressuring people to reject Jewish services.

Boycotts against Jews have been historically employed to diffuse societal unrest and divert anti-government protests by turning the focus of blame onto the Jew. From the late nineteenth century onward, "Don't buy from Jews," "Buy from Christians only" and "Each to his own" were commonly heard slogans in Europe, as organized boycotts targeted Jews as the scapegoats for rising unemployment and poverty. Boycott organizers justify their anti-Jewish actions as a defensive tactic or as retribution for alleged wrongdoing by Jews.

No sooner had Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party risen to power in Germany in 1933, than they organized a boycott against Jews as retribution for unfavorable press and boycotts of Nazis that were occurring across the world. It marked the beginning of Hitler's campaign against Jews that resulted in the Nazi's so-called "Final Solution" – the genocide of European Jews.

Just months after the defeat of the Nazis and Hitler's suicide, and even before the establishment of the State of Israel, the Arab League launched its own boycott against Jews in Palestine. The December 1945 declaration stated that "Jewish products and manufactured goods shall be considered undesirable to the Arab countries."

After Arab League attempts to physically annihilate the newly established State of Israel failed, its boycott became an alternate instrument of war to bring about the demise of the state through economic means. The boycott consisted of three levels: a) barring commerce between citizens of Arab League countries and citizens of Israel or the Israeli government; b) barring commercial relations between anyone who does business in Israel; and c) barring commerce between Arab and companies that do business with Israel.

The latest iteration of the Arab boycott is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Jewish state, which, like previous boycotts, is recognized as an antisemitic tool of discrimination against the Jews. As a result, there has been a global backlash.

Parliaments around the world have passed resolutions condemning the BDS movement as antisemitic, including the Austrian National Council, the Czech Republic parliament and the Canadian parliament, which condemned "any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here at home and abroad." The German parliament designated the BDS movement as antisemitic, recalling "the most terrible phase of German history," and defunded organizations that "actively support" BDS. Britain has announced plans to outlaw the BDS movement and boycott of Israel. France's National Assembly adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism that considers BDS' anti-Zionism a form of antisemitism.

Anti-boycott legislation in the US

Long before the launch of BDS in 2005, the United States had condemned the Arab League's boycott of the Jewish state as religious discrimination and legislated against it. In 1975, the US Commerce Department included language in the Export Administration Act that banned religious or racial discrimination by exporters. The 1976 Ribicoff amendment to the Tax Reform Act targeted companies that participated in the boycott from enjoying international tax benefits. In 1977, legislation was passed making it illegal for US persons (individuals and companies located in the United States and their foreign affiliates) to comply with most aspects of the Arab boycott. That legislation formed the basis for Section 8 of the Export Administration Act of 1979.

Additional legislation has since been introduced, most recently with the Combating BDS Act of 2021, to combat the BDS campaign against Israel. These include the Anti-Boycott Act of 2018 (Part II of the Export Control Reform Act) which created the Office of Antiboycott Compliance (OAC) within the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security that administrates and enforces U.S. anti-boycott regulations. And in 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Res.246  -- "Opposing efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel."

Thirty-five US states thus far have enacted laws against the BDS movement's boycott of the Jewish state – including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Promoters of anti-Israel boycotts denounce the resolutions that consider BDS a form of anti-Jewish bigotry to be penalized. They claim such legislation infringes upon their freedom of speech, violating their First Amendment rights under the US Constitution. They promote the movement in terms of Palestinian human rights and justice, using the pretense that the BDS campaign constitutes "non-violent" criticism of Israeli policy toward Palestinians, which is protected speech.

In fact, the violent and discriminatory nature of the movement is evidenced both by its targeting of the Jewish state alone for attack and by its leaders' and members' justification of and engagement in verbal or physical violence against Israelis, Jews, and Jewish supporters of Israel.

A recent effort to combat anti-boycott legislation in the name of the First Amendment's freedom of speech comes from Just Vision, a BDS-affiliated film team whose previous anti-Israel propaganda films include "Naila and the Uprising," "Encounter Point," "Budrus," and "My Neighborhood." Their latest film, "Boycott," takes aim at US state legislation against the anti-Jewish boycott campaign.

The heroes of the film are a lawyer from Arizona, a speech therapist from Texas, and a journalist from Arkansas who have sued their respective states over the right to freely participate in the anti-Jewish boycott without incurring any negative consequences. The film endeavors to convince viewers that while the BDS movement's discriminatory boycott is protected under the US.Constitution, attempts to boycott the boycotters are both unlawful and deplorable. Referring to "dangerous bills" that allegedly "remove the legal protection that has been awarded to boycotts for generations," the filmmakers make clear the partisan angle they take in their synopsis of the film:

"The film chronicles the courage of three Americans as they defend freedom of expression and lays bare what's at stake – our constitutionally-protected right to boycott – if they are defeated."

The New York Times

It is probably unsurprising, given The New York Times' propensity to whitewash BDS (see, for example, here, here, here and here), that the newspaper highlighted the views of Alan Leveritt, one of the film's protagonists and publisher of The Arkansas Times. Leveritt sued the State of Arkansas over its state-funded university's refusal to advertise in Leveritt's newspaper if he refused to sign a pledge not to boycott the Jewish state.

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Leveritt's column, which was published first as an online op-ed and then as a guest essay in the Sunday Review section of the newspaper, expounded on an approach taken by the film to discredit anti-boycott legislation: He suggested that opposition to BDS and anti-Jewish boycott was predicated upon the "eschatological beliefs" about "the Second Coming and Armageddon" that "conservative Evangelicals" in his state hold. By depicting support for Israel and the rejection of those who discriminate against the Jewish state as the view of a minority of religious fundamentalists, the film and Leveritt attempt to marginalize the pro-Israel perspective of a majority of Americans.

What about the anti-boycott legislation in liberal states, like California and New York? Leveritt condemns them as "trading their citizens' First Amendment rights for what looks like unconditional support for a foreign government."

Leveritt argues that "boycotts have repeatedly been used as a tool of political speech and protest" and are part of America's "founding mythology." His view and that of the filmmakers and fellow BDS activists is that legislation against BDS's anti-Jewish boycott is unconstitutional in that it "strangl[es] free speech" by "allowing government to use money to punish dissent."

There is another perspective, however, that is less aired on the pages of The New York Times. It is the view of most Americans, who reject anti-Jewish/anti-Israel boycott and support legislation against it. The last time the Times featured an op-ed presenting this position was nearly three years ago, when Florida Senator Marco Rubio defended the Combating BDS Act that he introduced with others on the Senate floor in 2019. (Unlike the pro-BDS column, the senator's viewpoint did not merit guest essay status in the Sunday Review print section, only an op-ed in the Times' web blog.) At that time, the senator pointed out that:

"While the First Amendment protects the right of individuals to free speech, it does not protect the right of entities to engage in discriminatory conduct. Moreover, state governments have the right to set contracting and investment policies, including policies that exclude companies engaged in discriminatory commercial- or investment-related conduct targeting Israel….

"…Just as United States court rulings have repeatedly affirmed that states have discretion over whether to invest or contract with a company undertaking actions at variance with their laws or policies, companies remain free to bow to radical anti-Israel interests and engage in discriminatory economic warfare against one of America's closest allies."

George Mason Law Professor Eugene Kontorovich, an expert on international law, has similarly pointed out that the First Amendment allows state governments to place conditions, like anti-discrimination restrictions, on those with whom they engage in business and hence "if states can choose to not do business with South African companies because of their politics and practices (which BDS proponents wholeheartedly support), it also means they can choose to not do business with private companies because of other discriminatory policies – like a boycott of Israel."

As he explains: "The campaign to 'boycott Israel' in reality seeks to legitimize discriminatory refusals to deal with people or companies simply because of their connection to the Jewish state. This is a legitimization of bigotry, just as boycotts of people because of their race, sexual orientation, or national origin would be discriminatory."

In order to weigh both sides of the debate about anti-Jewish boycott and understand why so many seek to combat it, one must be familiar with the boycott's history and its inherent antisemitism.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Chilean President-elect Gabriel Boric, who won his country's election on Sunday with close to 56% of the vote, on Monday called for the people to join him in "building bridges."

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However, the progressive Boric's anti-Israel positions are causing worry in the Chilean Jewish community.

Like many politicians on the Latin American Left, Boric, 36 – who on March 22 will be sworn in as Chile's youngest-ever president – holds clear positions about the foreign policy he intends to lead.

Two years ago, the local Jewish community presented him with a traditional Rosh Hashana gift of honey, and Boric responded by tweeting: "The Jewish community gave me honey to emphasize its commitment to a more accepting, supportive and respectful society."

"I thank you for the step, but you can start by demanding that Israel return the Palestinian territory it occupies illegally," his tweet continued.

Boric has a long history of left-wing activity, going back to his student days, when he was a leader of the country's stormy "social justice" protests that erupted in 2011 and again in October 2019, demanding that the country's economy be strengthened and restored to a welfare state model.

When asked during a TV interview about his previous remarks against Israel (Boric has accused Israel of committing genocide), Boric said he still believed that to be true.

La Comunidad Judía en Chile me envía un tarrito de miel por el año nuevo judio, reafirmando su compromiso cn "una sociedad más inclusiva, solidaria y respetuosa". Agradezco el gesto pero podrían partir por pedirle a Israel que devuelva el territorio palestino ilegalmente ocupado. pic.twitter.com/rtb1dt8QRP

— Gabriel Boric Font (@gabrielboric) October 2, 2019

"All the countries that violate international law, such as Israel, China, or Turkey, should respect international norms. It doesn't matter how much power that country has, we need our foreign policy to defend human rights with all its might, regardless of the government," Boric told the interviewer.

Chile is home to some half a million Palestinian immigrants, most of whom are Christian. The country's Jewish population, in comparison, numbers only tens of thousands.

President of the Chilean community in Israel Gabriel Colodro told Israel Hayom that "Boric has voted for every bill against Israel, called Israel a murderous state on public television, and consistently supports boycott of Israel."

However, Colodro said, he is Chile's president-elect, a fact that should not only be respected, but appreciated. "He will be judged by his actions, not his declarations," Colodro said.

"His remarks and the agreements he has made have an antisemitic nature, but it's not important what he has said, but what he will do. There is concern for the Jewish community [in Chile], but we wish him success," Colodro said.

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A recent gaffe by a BDS supporter has made her the target of ridicule online, and might cause one to wonder just how well-versed these "activists" actually are when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Last week, a BDS supporter posted a picture of a pendant she apparently purchased, which she said symbolized opposition to the "occupation."

"To stand with Palestine is to stand with Humanity," she wrote above a picture of the pendant, which is made of white metal in the shape of the state of Israel.

However, some social media users noticed that the pendant's outline of Israel actually surrounded Hebrew letters that read "Shema Yisrael."

One was Israeli rapper Yoav Eliassi (AKA The Shadow), who took care to take a screen shot of the post.

"This genius posted a picture of a pendant of 'Palestine' she bought, and wrote 'To stand with Palestine is to stand with humanity. But she didn't notice that what is written in the pendant is 'Shema Yisrael,'" Eliassi wrote in social media post that garnered tens of thousands of likes.

Instagram followers were quick to add their own takes on the error, with one user writing, "Her brain went out for a walk and hasn't come back." Another said, "God had given up."

A few hours after the comments began flooding in, the picture was removed.

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New South Wales has become the first state or territory in Australia to officially adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

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New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon, saying it is following in the footsteps of the federal government, which adopted the IHRA definition in October.

"To fight something, you need to be able to identify it, to be able to describe it, to name it," he said. "A definition is an essential and important tool. It's a tool which empowers all those who fight this fight."

Perrottet also said antisemitism "goes against everything our proud, strong, multicultural state stands for."

"We hear the Jewish community, and today we stand with them in the fight against antisemitism. This definition will make a difference. It will help people call out antisemitism wherever it hides – on social media, on educational campuses [and] on the streets of New South Wales. Embracing this definition is an important step to ensure our peaceful, vibrant, multicultural society remains just that."

Following the announcement, New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Darren Bark said the organization is "grateful" to Perrottet and the government "for leading the way amongst state governments."

He said that "every tool that is available to stamp out the scourge of hate speech and racism should be used before speech manifests into something more dangerous."

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS), which is the federal body representing Jewish students on university campuses in Australia and New Zealand, said adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism is a "significant step for Jewish students" across New South Wales.

Its political affairs director Gabrielle Stricker-Phelps said, "antisemitism, particularly on our university campuses, has increased this year and the definition plays an important role in helping communities, institutions and individuals identify and call out antisemitism," as reported by The Australian Jewish News.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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A bill to ban the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in Britain will soon be presented to Parliament, MP Robert Jenrick said Tuesday.

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A member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party and former secretary of state for housing, Jenrick made the comments during the Leadership Dialogue Institute (LDI) 2021 online conference.

LDI is a "private diplomatic channel fostering closer cultural ties between Australia, the UK, and Israel."

During a conversation titled "Why Do So Many People Hate Jews?" Jenrick said, "I think we're beating BDS here. Today, there is no political party in the UK to support BDS, and this is becoming an increasingly fringe activity.

"What we want to do is pass legislation here, and I'm pretty confident it will be in the legislative program the spring of next year."

On its official website, the BDS movement, with its headquarters in Ramallah, says its goal is "to pressure Israel to comply with international law" through economic means.

Several countries and US states have banned the BDS movement, opting to divest from companies that engage in the practice.

"There's a question of how broad that law can be, obviously I want it to be as broad as possible, so there's next to no avenue that BDS could continue," Jenrick said.

In 2019, an official from the Conservative Party, Eric Pickles, told a conference in Jerusalem that the new law would ban public agencies from working with those who boycott Israel in any way.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine, who received a 10-year ban from competition for withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics to avoid potentially facing an Israeli opponent, announced Monday he was retiring.

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Nourine, 30, had unsuccessfully appealed the ban imposed by the International Judo Federation.

"I decided to retire after my appeal was rejected, and the 10-year ban remained unchanged," Nourine said. "I know that international federations have always cooperated with Zionist terrorism, especially the International Judo Federation, and perhaps the best evidence is that the ban remains the same even after my appeal.

"I have no regrets. On the contrary, I am proud of this ban and will take every opportunity that comes my way in order to reveal facts about the Zionist entity, and to defend the Palestinian struggle in every way," the judoka said.

Nourine withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics on opening day after learning he could face Israeli judoka and Olympic bronze medalist Tohar Butbul. His coach, Amar Benikhlef, also received a 10-year ban.

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Police authorities in London are investigating a case of anti-Israeli signs posted at bus stops in the city, calling for a boycott of Israel. The signs caused furious responses on social media and in the local Jewish community.

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The signs feature a resigns of the cover of the book "Normal People" by author Sally Rooney, whose name is left out and replaced by a call to boycott Israel, making it appear as if the cover reads "Normal People Boycott Israel." The cover's original image is replaced by a depiction of an empty sardine can covered with a net.

Rooney recently refused to allow her latest book to be translated into Hebrew or published in Israel, accusing Israel of being an "apartheid state."

The protest group Protest Stencil, described the poster as a fishing net, which is also a symbol of the solidarity of traditional coercion represents the empty fishing nets of the fishermen in the Gaza Strip who due to the restrictions on their work while they are under attack from the occupation's combat boats."

London's transportation authority called the signs "vandalism" and has ordered workers to remove them, saying it was taking the incident "seriously."

Deputy Justice Minister David Wolfson tweeted an explicit query asking if transportation official had approved the campaign. At first the company responsible for advertising on bus stops said that the signs were fake, and then said it would address the issue.

Meanwhile, the London Police said it was looking into the criminal aspect of the case and sent personnel of its own to remove them.

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Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the co-founders of Ben & Jerry's, dismissed accusations they supported the boycott of Israel following the ice-cream maker's decision to stop selling its products in Judea and Samaria in an interview with Axios on HBO Sunday.

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"I think [the outrage] is largely based on misinformation. I think Ben and Jerry's and [parent company] Unilever are largely being characterized as boycotting Israel, which is not the case at all," Greenfield said.

Cohen explained, "We were always in favor of the two-state solution, [but] the policy of the Israeli government has been to endorse the settlements in the occupied territories that keep making it harder and harder to actually have a two-state solution."

"I don't view it as withholding money. We just don't want our ice cream sold in the occupied territories," he said.

Asked by Axios reporter Alexi McCammond whether they should move to halt all Israel sales if they disagree with Jerusalem's policies, Cohen retorted: "Well, I disagree with the US government, but we couldn't stop selling in the US. I think it's fine to be involved with a country or to be a citizen of a country and protest some of the country's actions.

"We hugely support Israel's right to exist but we are against a particular policy," he said.

As for accusations of antisemitism following the company's announcement, Greenfeld said: "I wasn't surprised, and yet when it happened, it's still painful. I understand people being upset. It's a very emotional issue for a lot of people, and it's a very painful issue for a lot of people."

Cohen, however, was more indignant saying, "[It was] totally fine because it's absurd. What, I'm anti-Jewish? I'm a Jew. My family is Jewish. My friends are Jewish."

Asked why they continued to sell their products in Georgia and Texas despite opposition to recent legislation on abortion and voting in those states, Cohen responded: "I don't know. It's an interesting question. I don't know what that would accomplish. We're working on those issues, of voting rights. ... I think you ask a really good question. And I think I'd have to sit down and think about it for a bit."

Pressed on the issue by Axios, Cohen asserted that "by that reasoning, we should not sell any ice cream anywhere. I've got issues with what's being done in almost every state and country."

To which Greenfield added that "one thing that's different is that what Israel is doing is considered illegal by international law. And so I think that's a consideration."

In what appeared to be a decision aimed at singling out Israeli settlements, the US-based ice cream company Ben & Jerry's announced in July it would no longer be sold beyond the Green Line after 2022. The move drew immediate condemnations from Israelis and a call to boycott the company's products.

On its website, it said, "We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry's ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)," referring to the official UN terminology for Judea and Samaria. "We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners," it said.

According to the company, whose headquarters are in the liberal state of Vermont, "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."

The company added that it would continue to operate in Israel "through a different arrangement."

Although it was unclear if this was part of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign waged against Israel among some leftwing circles in the US, it appears to fall in line with the goals pushed by progressive radicals on the Left in the US and beyond, which have accused the company of being part of Israel's alleged discriminatory practices against Palestinians.

The company had come under attack by boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement activists over its willingness to operate in Israel through a licensee that sells its product in Judea and Samaria. During the recent 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas, the attacks intensified and the latest move appears to be the company's response to this criticism.

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