Ben & Jerry’s Takes a Stand

After months of pressure from left-wing activists–i.e., its customer base–Ben & Jerry’s announced today that it will no longer sell ice cream in the “occupied territories.”

“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT),” the company stated in a notice it posted on its website.

The move gives a boost to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which has targeted the Vermont-based American company for the last decade.

Activist group Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine had been particularly vocal about the issue.

Unilever, the global conglomerate that owns Ben & Jerry’s, distanced itself from the announcement, pointing out that the ice cream company is independently managed. For my part, I agree with Prime Minister Bennett:

“There are many ice cream brands, but only one Jewish state,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

“Ben & Jerry’s has decided to brand itself as the anti-Israel ice cream. This decision is morally wrong and I believe that it will become clear that it is also commercially wrong,” he said.

Grocery store freezers are stocked with many superb brands of ice cream. I can’t imagine why anyone but a hard-core leftist would select Ben & Jerry’s. Meanwhile, where else has Ben & Jerry’s refused to sell ice cream? Reports indicate that they are selling in China, untroubled by the CCP’s Uyghur genocide. Is there anywhere else in the world where Ben & Jerry’s refuses to make money? Not that I know of.

In today’s world, anti-Semitism usually manifests itself as a unique and obsessive concern with the real or imagined–usually imagined–misdeeds of Israel, while ignoring indisputably more significant failings on the part of other states. In my book, Ben & Jerry’s is guilty of anti-Semitism.

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