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The Israeli distributor and manufacturer for Ben & Jerry’s is suing the company and its British parent company Unilever for illegally ending their 34-year business relationship after the U.S. ice cream makers’ controversial boycott last year.
The move comes after Ben & Jerry announced last July that it would end sales of their ice cream in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory” – seen not only as a reference to West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem but a de-facto boycott of all of Israel after Ben & Jerry’s refused to renew the Israeli licensee’s agreement at the end of 2022. Ben & Jerry’s – whose stock has dropped around 20% since the announcement – has faced accusations of discrimination as the company continues to sell products in countries with poor human rights records, including Russia, Syria, Iran and China, as well as disputed territories such as Western Sahara and Crimea.
American Quality Products (AQP) – the Israeli manufacturer and distributor of Ben & Jerry’s products – contend that the decision to stop sales in the West Bank violates Israeli and U.S. law, and as there is no legal way to continue business while breaking the law, the decision results in an illegal boycott of the whole of Israel. AQP is requesting that the court – a U.S. federal court in New Jersey where Unilever’s American branch is headquartered – let the company continue its Ben & Jerry’s operations in all of Israel. The lawsuit alleges that the move violates two Israeli laws – including Israel’s non-discrimination law, which includes a ban on discrimination based on residence and place of origin. The company also violated U.S. legislation that outlaws anti-Israel boycotts.
The lawsuit goes on to explain that by ending the contract with AQP, Ben & Jerry’s will harm coexistence projects that AQP sponsor, deny Palestinians access to their products and put many Palestinian people, who work along the AQP supply chain, out of work.
Avi Zinger, the owner of AQP, states: “I refused Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever’s illegal demands, and as a result, they are threatening to close my business, affecting hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian workers and distributors”. He expects the court to prevent Unilever from terminating their contract with AQP as the “only reason it’s doing so is that I refused to break the law”.
In the Frequently Asked Questions for Ben & Jerry’s original statement, they said that they are “a values-led company with a long history of advocating for human rights and economic and social justice” and that it would be inconsistent for their products “to be present within an internationally recognised illegal occupation”.
