Antisemitism watchdog StopAntisemitism.org has announced the winner of their 2021 “Antisemite of the Year” award – granting the (dis)honor to Anuradha Mittal, the head of Ben & Jerry’s Board of Directors and vice president of Ben & Jerry’s Foundation Inc.
Mittal spearheaded Ben & Jerry’s BDS efforts to stop the sale and distribution of its ice cream to those living in the West Bank. In response, several US states, such as Florida and Illinois, divested their pension fund holdings from its parent company Unilever.
Mittal bested singer Dua Lipa, who criticized Israel during last May’s clashes with Hamas, and US Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, who claimed – among many controversial statements – that California wildfires are the result of “Jewish space lasers” targeting the Earth.
Mittal has had previous run-ins with Jewish groups and is known for her staunch pro-Palestine stance. Under her leadership in 2018, Ben & Jerry’s partnered with notorious antisemite Linda Sarsour, an American-Palestinian activist who was banned from the Women’s March for inciting hatred and promoting negative sentiments against Israel and the greater Jewish people.
“For us and for the voters, Mittal was clearly the 2021 Antisemite of the Year,” said StopAntisemitism founder and executive director Liora Rez. “The Ben & Jerry’s boycott is shamelessly biased, and Mittal’s commitment to promoting her antisemitic and anti-Israel agenda is deplorable."
Mittal also founded the Oakland Institute, an anti-Israel policy think tank for which she penned a series of reports called “Palestine for Land and Life” – which accused Israel of apartheid and colonialism, among other things. Mittal has further leveraged her status at Ben & Jerry’s to fund antisemitic projects through the Oakland Institute, including Badil, a Palestinian group with ties to terror organizations and a history of publishing antisemitic, Nazi-era cartoons.
“The way she has leveraged her namesake and power in the corporate world to promote antisemitic initiatives is horrendous," Rez said. "Sadly, Ben and Jerry’s corporate antisemitism is not an isolated case. StopAntisemitism has found antisemitic incidents in many large American corporations in our 2021 report. It doesn’t matter how much influence they have.
“We’re here to hold antisemites accountable for their bigoted actions,” the watchdog founder said.