The BDS movement was dealt a massive blow last week when Ben & Jerry’s Israel distributor compelled the Vermont-based ice cream maker to reverse its decision to boycott sales in Judea and Samaria.
Unilever—the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream —announced that they have agreed to sell the manufacturing and distribution rights to its Israeli brand, as well as in the Judea and Samaria region, to Avi Zinger, its Israeli licensee.
The decision came following a nearly yearlong battle between virtually all elements of the pro-Israel community against Ben & Jerry’s. Pro-Israel advocates protested the corporation’s July 2021 announcement of its refusal to renew its license with Zinger because it could not support its product being distributed in what they claim is “Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The protests, which largely took place online, included viral videos mocking the ice cream maker’s decision. Among them was one produced by Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund (SICF) featuring a boy stepping on a pile of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to see what other brands of ice cream awaited him in the freezer.
The video boasts over 83,000 views on Facebook and was just one of the many efforts put forth by the pro-Israel community to quash the ice cream maker’s antisemitic initiative.
SICF Founder and President, David Rubin, responded to Ben and Jerry’s succumbing to pressure saying: “Thank G-d, the misguided effort by radical Ben & Jerry’s to boycott Israel has been defeated. We are proud to have stood proudly and unapologetically for Israel, and especially its biblical heartland, Judea and Samaria!”