BEN AND JERRY’S ICE CREAM – WE ALL ARE “SCREAMING MAD” ABOUT THIS ICE- CREAM!
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UPDATE 7/7/22
From Agudas Israel: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
Last July 2021, Ben & Jerry’s decided to take part in the antisemitic BDS movement and refuse sale of its products in parts of Israel. Today, Unilever (owner of Ben & Jerry’s) announced that it has sold its Ben & Jerry’s business interests to its Israeli licensee, ending the boycott.
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SEE COUNCILMEMBER PAUL KORETZ’S LETTER TO BEN & JERRY’S BELOW
“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” read a statement. Israeli PM Bennett called it a “moral” and “business mistake.”
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
In a victory for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement, popular ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s announced that it will no longer sell its products in Judea and Samaria.
“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” read a statement from the company.
“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.”
The statement came two months after social media users blasted the brand for not supporting the Palestinians during the May 2021 Gaza – Israel clash.
After carefully cultivating a social media presence focused on left-wing activism, many people lobbied criticism of the brand for suddenly ceasing to post in the aftermath of Operation of Operation Guardian of the Walls.
Earlier in 2021, the brand’s Twitter account called for the police to be defunded, the end of protections from prosecutions for police officers, which it deemed a “racist” policy, and for the “dismantling of the prison industrial complex.”
The ice cream brand even slammed UK Home Secretary Priti Patel for her statements about enforcing UK border law, accusing her of showing a “lack of humanity for people fleeing war, climate change and torture.”
The brand was founded in the 1970s by Jewish-American friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. It was purchased by the multinational company Unilever in 2000 for some $326 million.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett responded to the announcement on Twitter, writing “Ben & Jerry’s decided to brand itself as anti-Israel ice cream. This is a moral mistake and I believe it will turn out to be a business mistake as well.
“Boycotting Israel — a democracy surrounded by islands of terrorism — reflects how they have completely lost their way. The boycott does not work and never will; we will fight it with all our might.”
While some Twitter users praised Ben & Jerry’s decision, many said the decision didn’t go far enough.
The statement implied that while Israel would no longer sell its products in Judea and Samaria, it will still be available in the rest of Israel.
“The right thing is to boycott Israel as Israel is an apartheid state. Hopefully Israel will have gotten rid of its apartheid system in 100 years,” wrote one user.
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While many in the community are calling for a BOYCOTT of B&J’S One community member is taking a slightly different approach by trying to “FORCE A BOYCOTT” and has sent a letter to KOFK , the kosher certification of Ben & Jerry’s asking them to “Pull the Hechsher”.
To Whom It May Concern:
Given the announcement today by Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream that they are capitulating to the BDS movement and suspending sales of their products in the Israeli territories of Judea and Samaria, I am petitioning the Kof-K to remove your certification from Ben & Jerry’s products effective immediately. Our kosher certification agencies are the conduits through which millions of dollars in Jewish business flows to food and beverage companies every year – We should not and cannot countenance the support of companies who kowtow to antisemitism. Ben & Jerry’s stated that it is “inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”. What about our values? What about our responsibility to stand up for ourselves as Jews, for our rightful Homeland, and our brothers and sisters who are living in those sacred and historically Jewish lands? It must be antithetical to our values to continue supporting companies who bend to hate like grass in the wind, and we must divest our economic support from them. Kashrut agencies have long taken stands on issues that go beyond hashgacha and enter into the sphere of hashkafa. I implore you now to look beyond the ingredients of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and consider their new Israel policy as “traif” and withdraw your certification immediately. The Kof-K can send a fiery shot across the bow of companies throughout the US that says that Jewish business is a zero sum game – if they enter into the fray of Israeli politics and cut their business off to some Jews, they will lose the business of all Jews.
Thank you.
Councilmember Paul Koretz Letter to Ben & Jerry’s
