Israeli state officials and their allies were so desperate to cover up the boycott of a multinational company that they launched a massive pressure campaign. Eventually, Unilever sold an Israeli licensee, “Blue & White Ice Cream Ltd.” the rights to sell a bootleg Ben & Jerry’s product inside the country as long as they didn’t use the English trademarked name “Ben & Jerry’s.”
After a lengthy legal battle, the Ben & Jerry’s board released a new statement last month reiterating its political position and clarifying: (1) “Any products sold by Blue & White Ice Cream Ltd. are uniquely its own and should not be confused with products produced and distributed by Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc.” This major BDS victory comes after years of campaigning. And it was our long-standing work with the Movement for Black Lives that pushed Ben & Jerry’s to finally meet Palestinian demands to withdraw its business from apartheid or risk losing M4BL as a partner. This is a clear example of how AJP’s cross-movement coalitions deliver and why solidarity is so important both as an ethic and as a strategy. | 