The owner of Ben & Jerry’s has deserted its Israeli business a year after the ice cream company said it would discontinue sales in portions of Israel.
Unilever announced Tuesday it had sold its Ben & Jerry’s business interests in Israel to Avi Zinger, the owner of Israel-based licensee American Quality Products. The company has listened to arguments for and against discontinuing the sales of its ice cream in Israel for the past year, including from the Israeli government, according to a Unilever press release.
“Unilever rejects completely and repudiates unequivocally any form of discrimination or intolerance,” the company said. “Antisemitism has no place in any society. We have never expressed any support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement and have no intention of changing that position.”
UN INVESTIGATORS: AL JAZEERA JOURNALIST KILLED BY ISRAELI FORCES
Unilever did not disclose the amount of money it received from selling its business interests when asked by the Washington Examiner.
The new arrangement allows Ben & Jerry’s to be sold under its Hebrew and Arabic names throughout Israel and the West Bank under the full ownership of AQP.
International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky, an Israeli human rights attorney who was among the first to file suit in the United States against Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling ice cream in parts of Israel, described Unilever’s decision to sell ice cream in Israel as “a stunning unequivocal defeat for the global BDS Movement.”
WE DID IT!
? ILF Statement on #Unilever’s Reversal of #BenAndJerry’s #Israel boycott: pic.twitter.com/JYzNznYasY
— The International Legal Forum – ILF (@The_ILF) June 29, 2022
Ben & Jerry’s announced in July 2021 that it would cease sales of its products in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, claiming it is “inconsistent with our values” for the company’s products to be sold in “the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Unilever, which acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, called the regional conflict “a very complex and sensitive situation” in a statement.
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Yair Lapid, who is serving as the alternate prime minister as well as minister of foreign affairs, all criticized the ice cream maker’s decision last year, with Bennett saying Ben & Jerry’s branded itself as “an anti-Israel ice cream,” and warned of “severe consequences” for the ice cream company.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Last October, the New York State Common Retirement Fund pulled $111 million in investments out of Unilever over the ice cream brand’s boycott of Israel, warning the state pension fund’s investments in the Middle Eastern nation could be at risk.
