Ben & Jerry’s says it will stop sales in West Bank, east Jerusalem
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Ben & Jerry’s announced on Monday that it will no longer allow its ice cream to be sold in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, a move that comes after a wave of online criticism targeted the company’s sales in those areas and caused it to go silent on its social media channels for about two months.
The decision drew swift and varied reaction, ranging from praise from some of those who had pushed the company to stop its sales to settlers, criticism that the move did not go far enough, and also fresh calls for boycott against Ben & Jerry’s from those who support Israeli settlements, including former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Vermont-based company, known for its progressive messaging in ads and ice cream branding, said in a statement Monday that “we believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).”
“We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners,” it added.
The company said it would discontinue an agreement with a licensee that manufactures and sells the iconic ice cream in Israel and elsewhere in the region. A group called Vermonters for Justice in Palestine has long criticized that business arrangement — born out of a friendship between Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Ben Cohen and Israeli businessman Avi Zinger in the 1980s. The 20-year-old advocacy group argues the company’s involvement in occupied territories flies in the face of the social justice mission off which they profit.
For the past three decades, Ben & Jerry’s has licensed a factory in Israel, which produces and distributes ice cream in the country and also sells in and caters to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Ben and Jerry’s said Monday it would not renew its agreement with that licensee, but would continue to sell its ice cream in Israel “through a different arrangement.”
Wafic Faour, a member of Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, on Monday called the move “a positive step” but said it was incomplete.
“If they are going to keep doing business with an apartheid state of Israel, with an occupying state of Israel, it means they are still working against their own social mission and what they are advocating for,” Faour said in an interview. “So their hypocrisy continues.”
In a statement, Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever called the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “a very complex and sensitive situation” and said that it remained “fully committed to our presence in Israel.” Unilever acknowledged that as part of its 2000 acquisition agreement, Ben & Jerry’s retained oversight of the Israel license.
The Unilever statement continued: “We also welcome the fact that Ben & Jerry’s will stay in Israel.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s former prime minister who was ousted this year after being in office for more than 12 years, suggested on Twitter that Israelis avoid buying Ben & Jerry’s going forward.
Almost a tenth of Israel’s Jewish citizens live in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. International law deems them illegal, but the Israeli government has maintained it has historical and religious rights to the land.
Earlier this year, as the Israeli government launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip and Hamas and other militant groups fired rockets into Israel, the arrangement took on new visibility and many activists sympathetic to the Palestinian cause began campaigning for Ben & Jerry’s to discontinue sales.
Faour said he believes that what happened with Ben & Jerry’s will serve as a catalyst for businesses to pay attention to the movement to boycott and divest from Israel, and pointed specifically to Unilever’s statement reiterating its commitment to Israel.
Hanna Krueger of the Globe staff contributed.