MAJOR UPDATE: Ben & Jerry’s Suffers Massive Defeat in Court in its Attempt to Boycott the Jewish State

To the ice cream maker’s chagrin, their products will continue to be sold in all of Israel

By Nosson Shulman: Licensed Tour Guide of VIP Israel Tours & Authentic Virtual Tours (click here to check out his free trailer videos)

In a blow to the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) movement, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Ben and Jerry’s against its parent company Unilever. The goal of the failed lawsuit was to prevent the conglomerate from allowing its products to continue to be sold in Judah and Samaria, land that Israel liberated in 1967.

In July 2021, Ben & Jerry’s shocked the world when it became arguably the most prominent American company ever to announce it was boycotting large parts of Israel. The ice cream maker said that beginning in 2023, their products would no longer be sold in Jewish areas of Judah and Samaria. This brought intense heat upon its parent company Unilever, a multi-national conglomerate, because of the existing anti-Boycott laws in at least 35 states (which required their governments to divest any investments they had in the corporation and prohibiting purchase of their products).

Originally Unilever (who purchased the ice cream giant in 2000) claimed that their hands were tied. They claimed that when they bought the company, they agreed to the founder’s stipulation that the ice cream maker would retain its board of directors independent from its parent company, meaning they could continue to promote the (often extreme) left wing views of its original founders. Although primarily a for-profit company, Ben & Jerry’s regularly involves itself in non-business related, political and “social” issues.

Unilever stated that it was unfair to hold the entire company liable for the actions of one of their subsidiaries. Unfortunately (for Unilever) states including New York, Florida and Arizona disagreed, and immediately divested hundreds of millions of dollars it had invested in the large conglomerate. Other states such as Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Michigan, and Maryland also initiated the process, with many states planning to follow suit. Within the first few months, the company lost more than 20 billion dollars of value, leading to lawsuits from shareholders and board members of the large corporation. Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began investigating the company for not properly disclosing to investors the risks stemming from the boycott. High ranking US politicians began to pressure the company, personally complaining in writing to the SEC. These collective actions, in addition to a lawsuit from the Israeli licensee, prompted the company to realize that the boycott was going to continue to cost them dearly, so they made an announcement that its subsidiary will no longer boycott Israel after reaching a settlement with American Quality Products (AQP), the ice cream company’s Israeli licensee. According to the terms of the deal, Unilever sold all of its business interests in Israel to AQP, allowing them to continue selling ice cream without limit or an expiration date on both sides of the green line. Even though the ice cream sold in Israel will no longer be under the auspices of Unilever or Ben & Jerry’s, the Israeli licensee retains the right to sell the ice cream using Ben & Jerry’s Arabic and Hebrew labelling (although not in English).

As expected, Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit against its parent company to halt that sale, claiming that Unilever was contractually prevented from interfering in their social activism and by going through with the sale. They argued that their customers could be under the “false impression” that they support Israeli settlements. Judge Andrew Carter rejected their argument, calling it speculative. In siding with Unilever, Judge Carter ruled that the ice cream manufacturer failed to demonstrate that they would suffer irreparable damage if this sale went through.

Nosson Shulman is a journalist and Licensed Tour Guide in Israel specializing in Biblical tours. To allow tourists to experience Israel during the Corona era, he created the new hit Israel tour video series which brings Israel to the home of viewers by simulating actual tours. To check out his free sneak preview tour videos, click here. To view sample tour itineraries or to inquire about private tour opportunities with a personalized itinerary on your next trip to Israel, click here.