Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Boycotts Israel in Bold Anti- Semitic Statement

July 20, 2021

(WP) According to recent reports by multiple media outlets, Ben & Jerry's has decided to stop selling ice cream in Palestinian territories. The move was supposedly spurred on by fans of the brand who have "taken the company to task for doing business in Israel."

The decision, announced Monday, takes effect when the agreement with its licensee in Israel expires at the end of next year. This will end the brand's 35-year presence there.

Ben & Jerry's problem with Israel seems to lie in the fact that the company disagrees with who actually owns and has a right to govern the Palestinian territories in West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. Referring to the region as "occupied" by Israel, the ice cream maker says that selling products in Palestinian territories is inconsistent with its socially conscious brand.

The Ben & Jerry's brand is owned by Unilever, who has since clarified that the ice cream will still be sold in parts of Israel that conform to pre-1967 border lines. However, some reports claim the Unilever board actually wanted to boycott the entire country of Israel.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Prime Minister Naftali Bennet spoke with Unilever's CEO about the decision yesterday. Bennett "emphasized that from the perspective of the State of Israel, this is an action that has severe consequences, including legal ones, and it will take strong action against any boycott directed against its citizens."

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also came out against the decision, tweeting "Now we Israelis know which ice cream NOT to buy."

This is not the first time the Vermont-based organization has aligned itself with liberal political causes. Playing into the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement with this latest decision, Ben & Jerry's has also supported Black Lives Matter, Defund the Police, and Occupy Wall Street.

A post made by the BDS Movement's official Twitter account yesterday was especially anti Semitic in nature:

In an era when big business increasingly intermingles with politics, only time will tell whether decisions such as these, made under the guise of "social justice," will pay off for stockholders and customers.

Time will certainly tell.