Last year, Ben & Jerry’s announced it would stop sales in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Ben & Jerry’s will continue to sell ice cream throughout Israel and the West Bank, after announcing last year that it would stop sales in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, Unilever, the ice cream company’s parent company, announced on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Economy Minister Or a Barbivai welcomed the decision on Wednesday, congratulating the owner of Ben & Jerry’s Israel, Avi Zinger, for reaching a deal with the company.
“The decision not only ensures that the Ben & Jerry’s factory and its diverse workforce will be protected, but that its customers, both Jewish and Muslim, Israeli and Palestinian, will not be targeted by the de-legitimization campaign against Israel,” said the two ministers.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Economy Minister Orna Barbivai praised Unilever’s decision, which “not only ensures that the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Israel and its diverse staff will be protected, but that customers of the company, Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians, will not be subject to attacks by a delegitimization campaign against Israel.”
“This is an important victory of values against discrimination and antisemitism that is at the heart of the campaign to boycott Israel,” the ministers added.
Lapid discussed the matter with Unilever CEO Alan Jope and Ben & Jerry’s Israel CEO Avi Zinger in recent days.
Earlier this month, activist investor Nelson Peltz joined Unilever’s board, after his investment firm Trian Fund Management LP, bought a 1.5% share in the company.
Peltz is a philanthropist and the honorary co-chairman of the board of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which put Unilever on its top 10 list of antisemites around the world for 2021, after Ben & Jerry announced it would no longer sell ice cream in settlements.