Will Ben & Jerry’s ice cream make a comeback in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories? For the past year, a real “ice war” has pitted the holder of the brand’s license in this country against the company founded in 1978, a subsidiary of Unilever, which is known for its progressive commitments, the protection of the ecology to respect for human rights or the question of inequalities.
In July 2021, the ice cream maker stopped distributing its ice cream products in Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, believing that it was not “compatible” with its “values”. A decision which, at the time, was welcomed by the Palestinians and which is considered a victory for the international boycott campaign (Boycott, divestment and sanctions, BDS) of the Jewish state.
Except that Unilever announced at the end of June that it had ceded its “commercial interests in Israel” to Avi Zinger, who was already the holder of the brand’s license in the country, thus paving the way for the official resumption of sales of the brand in the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. Indeed, despite Ben & Jerry’s decision, Avi Zinger had decided to contravene this directive of the American brand by continuing to distribute Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the colonies, produced by its factory in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
Still, the Ben & Jerry brand still does not want its name displayed in the Israeli settlements. She has just filed a complaint in a Manhattan court saying that the transaction between Unilever and Avi Zinger threatens “the integrity of the brand and the social integrity that Ben & Jerry’s has taken decades to build”. In its complaint, Ben & Jerry’s asks that any agreement allowing the distribution or sale of its products in the West Bank be dissolved and that any transaction going in this direction be subject in the future to the green light of its board of directors.
“Anti-Semitism will not defeat us even when it comes to ice cream”
The group recalls in the document that when it was taken over by Unilever in 2000, it had expressly reserved the right to preserve this integrity with an independent board of directors. For its part, the Unilever group felt that it had the right to “enter into this agreement” and that the operation “has already been finalized”.
But the case becomes political. “After long months of negotiations, we have succeeded in ensuring the production and sale of our beloved ice cream in Israel and Judea and Samaria (name given to the West Bank by Israel, editor’s note)”, welcomed Avi Zinger. Same tone on the side of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is leading an offensive against the Jewish state’s boycott campaign. According to him, this transaction “guarantees not only that the Ben & Jerry’s factory will be protected but that its many employees, as well as its customers, Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians, will not be the targets of a campaign of delegitimization of ‘Israel’. “Anti-Semitism will not defeat us even when it comes to ice cream,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said.