Eli Lake, Columnist

Israel’s Ice Cream Battle Heats Up

Some state attorneys general are looking to punish Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, for the chain's decision not to sell ice cream in the West Bank and Gaza.

November 15, 2021 at 8:00 AM UTC

By Eli Lake

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Not everyone’s favorite flavor.
Photographer: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP

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Since Ben & Jerry’s announced in July that it would no longer sell its ice cream in Gaza and the West Bank, its British owner, Unilever PLC, has sought to do damage control. Now Unilever faces an unlikely player in international statecraft: U.S. state attorneys general.

Unilever Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope has said it rejects the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Unilever has also announced that it would find a new arrangement for Ben & Jerry’s to remain in Israel, but not in the occupied territories, after the contract with its current Ben & Jerry’s distributor expires next year. Unilever more recently has promised to continue to sell its many supermarket brands in Israel.