On July 19 the famed Ice Cream Company “Ben & Jerry’s” announced they will end all sales of their products in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory” Areas include the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
(Full statement down below)
It’s not new for the Vermont based Company to make headlines regarding their views on social justice issues, even making waves last year for supporting the Defund the Police Movement.
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett put out a strong statement against the company and its parent company, Unilever. Calling this a “clearly anti-Israel step” , and that this decision will have “serious consequences, legal and otherwise, and that (Israel) will act aggressively against all boycott actions directed against its citizens”.
Supermarkets across the U.S Kosher and non, have started to pull out all Ben & Jerry’s products off their shelves. Standing firm with their support for Israel, and fighting against the BDS Movement.
Former Israeli Primer Minister Netanyahu tweeted “Now we Israelis know which ice cream NOT to buy,” and we couldn’t agree more!
We encourage more supermarkets and food establishments to remove any Ben & Jerry’s products they carry. The power of social media and our collective voice is huge, let’s keep it going and support Israel!
“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. We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region. 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. Although Ben & Jerry’s will no longer be sold in the OPT, we will stay in Israel through a different arrangement. We will share an update on this as soon as we’re ready”.
