Unilever CEO Alan Jope said July 22 his company remains “fully committed” to doing business in Israel. Jope was distancing his global company from an announcement made earlier this week by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand to stop serving Israel’s West Bank settlements. Still, Jope made it clear the ice cream brand was autonomous to make such a decision.
Ben & Jerry’s announced July 19 on the company website it will stop operations in the Palestinian territories, because it is “inconsistent with our values.” Within minutes, the news sparked a flurry of reactions across the Israeli press and social media. People were quick to call the company’s decision “anti-Israel” or “antisemitic,” or even to describe it as a new kind of terrorism. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted that “Ben & Jerry’s decided to brand itself as an anti-Israeli ice cream,” and referred to the decision as “a boycott” of Israel. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted, “Ben & Jerry’s decision is a disgraceful surrender to antisemitism; the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement; and everything bad about the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish discourse.” Even Israel’s new president, Isaac Herzog, jumped into the fray, describing the company’s decision as “a new form of terrorism.”