Ben & Jerry's Joins BDS Movement To Boycott West Bank And East Jerusalem

Ben and Jerry’s, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever N.V. UL, announced it will cease selling ice cream in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, claiming that “it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Slow Motion Melting: In making its announcement, Ben & Jerry’s becomes the most prominent U.S. company to sign on to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, an attempt to economically isolate Israel.

The company’s announcement, which was posted on its website, added that the end of its retail presence in these markets will not occur until the end of 2022.

“We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region,” the statement continued. “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 will continue to sell its products in Israel “through a different arrangement.”

Who’s To Blame? Unilever quickly distanced itself from its subsidiary’s decision.

“We are aware that Ben & Jerry’s has recently made an announcement,” said Unilever Israel in a press statement. “To be clear, Unilever Israel does not manage Ben & Jerry’s locally. The brand is run by a competitor’s business which owns the Ben & Jerry’s franchise in the Israeli market.

“Unilever Israel had no involvement in this decision. It was made by Ben & Jerry’s globally and its independent board of directors. We are very proud of our history in Israel and are fully committed to our long-term presence.”

The Jerusalem Post reported the Vermont-headquartered Ben & Jerry’s has been targeted for the past decade by organizations supporting the BDS goals, with a group calling itself Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine being a particularly aggressive activist force to rewrite the company’s Middle Eastern retail policy.

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Local Reaction: Reaction was mostly negative from both Israelis and, perhaps surprisingly, prominent Palestinian voices.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett led his nation's condemnation, saying in a statement, "Ben & Jerry's has decided to brand itself as the anti-Israel ice cream. This decision is morally wrong and I believe that it will become clear that it is also commercially wrong."

Yair Lapid, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, tweeted, “Ben & Jerry’s decision represents shameful surrender to antisemitism, to BDS and to all that is wrong with the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish discourse. We will not be silent.”

Lapid added, “Over 30 states in the United States have passed anti-BDS legislation in recent years. I plan on asking each of them to enforce these laws against Ben & Jerry's. They will not treat the State of Israel like this without a response.”

Avi Abelow, an Israeli writer and filmmaker, posted on his Facebook FB page that “400 Israeli workers, Jews & Arab Muslims, were just thrown under the bus by B&J USA,” which he described as an “ultra-progressive woke company.” He also called on Americans to boycott the company.

“The way to punish B&J USA is to boycott them in the USA, not in Israel for the next year and a half while the Israeli factory still owns the license,” he said.

Palestinian writer Mariam Barghouti also found fault with the announcement, albeit for different reasons, tweeting, “What do you mean will remain in #Israel under different agreements? @benandjerrys? Nice statement though, almost as though you've alleviated yourself from the work of actually supporting justice.”

And the Palestinian BDS National Committee echoed Barghouti’s complaint by tweeting, “We warmly welcome their decision but call on Ben & Jerry's to end all operations in apartheid Israel.”

Photo: Courtesy of Ben & Jerry's.