No More Fudge? Texas Bans anti-Israel Ice Cream
Texans’ hearts weigh heavy right now as they consider whether Ben & Jerry’s ice cream should be on their menus, and more importantly whether the State of Texas should be buying it.
It is fair to say that Ben Shapiro’s 2012 tweet described the way most Texans feel about the company they sometimes buy from if Blue Bell is unavailable.
B&J have a long tradition of supporting progressive candidates and celebrating homosexuality with their products. For example
On March 13, 2012, Ben & Jerry's announced it would be changing the name of one of its ice cream flavors in the UK in support of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. "Oh! My! Apple Pie!" would become "Apple-y Ever After" and tubs would feature a gay couple atop a wedding cake decorated with rainbows
and
"Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough" was temporarily renamed "I Dough, I Dough" in the United States during the summer of 2015. This was in celebration of United States Supreme Court's ruling in support of same-sex marriage. The proceeds from sales were to go to the Human Rights Campaign (a nonprofit advocacy group for LGBT rights)
But in what has become known as BJgate, B&J may have pushed their progressive politics too far this time. Now, they have stopped selling ice cream in certain areas of Israel. That’s the kind of thing that undermines our values and threatens us as a society. Of course, the same GOP old guard that tells voters we can’t protect free speech on social media from Left-leaning monopolies because “muh private companies” are more than happy to use state power to protect a foreign nation.
Luckily, we have an anti-BDS law on the books AND we have a newly refurbished Holocaust Commission and Advisory Board AND a great new definition of antisemitism that nails these Jew-haters. On top of that, US taxpayers sent $3.3 billion in foreign aid to Israel, more than any other country. However, regardless of how you feel about this, there are some interesting takeaways from present events. There are only two instances when otherwise weak Republicans are willing to use state power to enforce policy: cough lockdowns, and protecting Israel. If only the GOP was as serious about vote security/cheating prevention, big tech censorship, banning abortion, freeing political prisoners, and stopping the medical violation of children as it was supporting a nation more than 11,000 miles away from Texas (maybe ask about this in your legislator’s next town hall).
However, the GOP likely won’t lose voters over this. After all, Israel is still our greatest ally, so much so we gladly share our data with them. Another possible motivation for the Texas government’s recent moves is to galvanize Evangelicals into blindly voting for them in the primaries, and attempting to convince them the GOP’s Lemon Party establishment still has their interests at heart. This is understandable considering many American Evangelicals (especially John Hagee types who think Israel is a fourth member of the Trinity) would react to one blaspheming Israel the same way many Mexican Catholics would blaspheming the Virgin of Guadalupe; it would be unlikely for Evangelicals to cross over to the donkey party.
All in all though, if we can penalize companies for refusing to support a foreign country, why can’t we obstruct dealings with corporations that willfully subvert our own state and nation?