Everything you wanted to know about the Ben & Jerry’s Boycott

What happened?

Ben & Jerry's Board of Directors decided to turn their enterprise into a company that discriminates, violates human rights, and spreads hatred. They demanded that their Israeli franchisee stop marketing their products to the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley. Functionally, their decision will not be implemented immediately because the contract they have with the Israeli franchisee is in good standing for another year and a half.

And then what happened?

The Israeli franchisee refused to accept the anti-Semitic conditions of Ben & Jerry's directors. He announced that he was not willing to discriminate between regions in the country or between Israeli citizens. He stated firmly that his ice cream was not political, and that he was not willing to surrender to the organized boycott of his country. It is important to note that his refusal came well before the angry public reaction to the boycott. He stood on principle and he deserves credit and admiration for his courage.

Who made the decision to boycott?

The decision was taken by Ben & Jerry's Board of Directors, from their Vermont headquarters. In their agreement with Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever global management gave freedom of action on “social justice” matters to Ben & Jerry’s Board of Directors. However, Unilever Global has sufficient leverages on Ben & Jerry's, which can force a reversal of the decision that can adversely affect Unilever globally.

What is being done in Israel?

The Israeli franchisee of Ben & Jerry's owns a factory in Beer Tuvia in the south of the country, which employs about 150 people. Therefore, for the next year and a half we will continue to buy and advocate for Ben & Jerry's products manufactured in Israel.

How can friends of Judea and Samaria in the US help?

We have many friends and supporters in the US, Jews and non-Jews. Supermarket chains and local markets all over the United States, and especially in the New York area, have already announced that they will take Ben & Jerry’s products off their shelves. They are even adding to their promotional material the post: We Stand with Israel. This is an exciting and encouraging development that is not taken for granted. Even the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, spoke out against the boycott, and specifically against the BDS movement.

We need all the pressure that the friends of Judea and Samaria can put on additional retail chains and businesses to notify the Ben & Jerry’s operation in no uncertain terms that they will curtail all business relations with them until their anti-Semitic decision is rescinded.

I encourage you to reach out to all major retail chains; contact them via telephone, send an email, write a message, and demand that they not to be partners in a boycott of Israel. They must stop selling Ben & Jerry's products.

Here is another thing you can do to help Israel. Many of the US states have already passed a law prohibiting the boycotting of Israel, without excepting Judea and Samaria. Companies that violate this law are not eligible for government assistance, investment of pension funds, or participation in federal government or state tenders.

You can contact your local and state representatives and demand an investigation into whether Unilever and/or Ben & Jerry’s have violated this law. If so, it should be demanded that they receive the requisite punishment.

(More information on this can be read in the attached article by Prof. Eugene Kontrowitz from the Kohelet Policy Forum)

In this way, we will be able to demonstrate to Ben & Jerry’s and to Unilever, the potential economic damage they should expect if they persist in their unconscionable surrender to the antisemitism of the organized boycott effort.

We can, and we must, force them to continue the franchise of the Israeli manufacturer without boycotting Jewish communities anywhere in the Land of Israel.

We succeeded with AIRBNB. If we act correctly and swiftly, we can succeed once again.