Billionaire Investor Nelson Peltz Resigns From Jewish Human Rights Board That Called for Boycott of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

Billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz has resigned from his post at the Simon Wiesenthal Center after the Jewish human rights organization called on consumers to stop buying Ben & Jerry's products.

The Wiesenthal Center called for the boycott after Ben & Jerry's chairman publicly denounced Israel's actions in Gaza.

Peltz resigned from his role as chairman of the Wiesenthal Center's board of governors earlier this month, a person familiar with the matter told The Messenger. The billionaire is a board member at Unilever, Ben & Jerry's parent company, and his firm, Trial Fund Management, is a shareholder in the conglomerate.

Peltz is no longer listed as one of the center's officers on its website. As of Nov. 27, Peltz was still recorded as a member of the board, according to an archived version of the webpage. Gordon Diamond, co-chairman of the center's board of trustees, has also recently departed from the organization.

The Wiesenthal Center has been previously critical of Ben & Jerry's support for Palestinians. Ben & Jerry's Chairman Anuradha Mittal — on her private account on X, formerly known as Twitter — has supported calls for a permanent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Mittal is also the executive director of the Oakland Institute, a think tank focused on progressive issues that has been critical of Israel.

The center on Dec. 8 posted a now-deleted tweet alleging that the company was "justifying the mass murderer[sic], raping and torturing of Jewish hostages including children," in an apparent reference to Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to the Journal. The tweet, which included a photo of Mittal, added "No one should spend a penny on their products," according to the Journal.

Peltz was disappointed the Wiesenthal Center didn't consult him before posting the tweet, later calling the organization's rabbi to announce his immediate resignation, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with his thinking. The billionaire, who has been with the center since the 1980s, was "ready to depart" given his other responsibilities, according to the Journal.

In addition to his posts on Unilever and several other organizations, Peltz has launched his second bid for a seat on the Walt Disney Co.'s board of directors.

Mittal told the Journal she had complained about the center's tweet to Unilever, pointing to a deluge of angry messages being sent to her private accounts. She also raised concerns about Peltz's dual roles at the two organizations and asked Unilever to investigate whether Peltz may have breached his duty to shareholders over the Wiesenthal Centers' calls for consumers not to purchase the company's products.

In a statement made before the tweet was deleted, the center's associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, told the Journal that there wasn't an official call for a boycott of Ben & Jerry's. He added that any company or executive who doesn't “denounce mass rape of women, mass kidnappings, beheadings, holding children and the elderly hostage underground for seven weeks+, we have the right and obligation to call you out!"

As part of its acquisition of Ben & Jerry's in 2020, Unilever agreed to allow the brand's independent board to decide what social causes it wants to promote. The brand has been a staunch supporter of Palestinian causes, ending sales of its products in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and contested East Jerusalem.

The Wiesenthal Center at the time retaliated against the brand, taking out ads telling customers to urge their local stores to "stop selling anti-Semitic ice cream. The organization also listed Unilever as one of its top 10 antisemitic organizations of 2021.

A representative for Unilever did not immediately respond to The Messenger's requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Simon Wiesenthal Center declined to comment on the record.