On Tuesday, Ben & Jerry’s, the Vermont-based ice cream-makers with the big social conscience, held its annual free-cone day in the States; and Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine coordinated a national demonstration against Ben & Jerry’s because the chain sells ice cream in the illegal settlements.
Below are photographs from two of the actions, in Mt. Kisco, NY, and NYC. Felice Gelman participated in the Mt Kisco action (she’s wearing the purple shirt and sunglasses in the second photo), and she told me later that she was surprised by how friendly the Ben & Jerry’s customers were to the demonstrators. Gelman is used to getting abuse. There was almost none on the Ben & Jerry’s picket line, she reports– another sign that some of the fierce opposition to actions critical of the occupation is beginning to wilt in the U.S.
Ben and Jerry’s action, Mt Kisco, photo by Andrew Courtney
Ben and Jerry’s action, Mt Kisco, photo by Andrew Courtney
Here’s Adalah NY’s coverage of the demonstration at Ben & Jerry’s on 104th and Broadway in NYC. A photo below from that action shows two of our friends.
Ben and Jerrry’s NY
On March 14, Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel (VTJP) launched a campaign urging Ben & Jerry’s to stop selling and catering to Jewish-only settlements in occupied Palestine. Since then, close to 3,500 people have signed a petition to the company, 650 emails were sent to Ben & Jerry’s CEO, and more than 80 organizations have endorsed the campaign. To all those who have taken action so far, VTJP would like to say: Thank you. It makes a difference.
The president of the Ben & Jerry’s Board of Directors, Jeff Furman, told the Burlington Free Press that he believes catering operations to the settlements have stopped since VTJP brought the matter to the company’s attention. This would signify a major victory for the campaign!
VTJP is still working to confirm Furman’s claim and is asking groups to redouble efforts to ensure that Ben & Jerry’s ends all complicity with Israel’s occupation and discriminatory policies.
From that Burlington Free Press piece. The activists reached out to Ben & Jerry’s executives. But nothing happened:
In a report released Thursday, the advocacy group [Vermonters for a Just Peace] details “field research” that says marketing of Ben & Jerry’s products in four specific settlements. The report also recounts a series of communications between group members and Ben & Jerry’s executives, in which the group expressed its concerns. After the dialogue ended with what the group calls “no immediate prospect of action by the company,” members decided to issue the report.
The report calls for, among other things, an end to the marketing of Ben & Jerry’s products in the Jewish-only settlements.
Furman said marketing is done by independent distributors who are out of Ben & Jerry’s control.
Ben & Jerry’s actions obviously violate its own policy of a social mission. From the Vermonters for a Just Peace site, “Peace, Love and Occupation?”
In 2011, Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel learned that Ben & Jerry’s franchise in Israel is manufacturing ice cream and selling it in illegal Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Additionally, in 2010, as Israel was expanding its illegal settlements and continuing to impose an inhuman siege on Gaza, Ben & Jerry’s opened a new factory in Israel and announced plans to re-establish 16 new stores and kiosks across the country.
By doing business in Israel and in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, it violates its own Social Mission and engages in unethical practices.
can’t have haagen-daz either. whats an ice cream lover to do?
“Her two great loves both began with the letter ‘I’: ice cream and Israel,” said Morton Klein, president of the ZOA. “She was a very generous contributor to Jews living in Judea and Samaria. No one surpassed her commitment to the holy Jewish land of Israel.”
http://forward.com/articles/9595/h-agen-dazs-creator-ruth-mattus-/
ice cream wars (maybe b&j is ok or has something changed?);
http://www.thejewishweek.com/features/jewish_politics_ice_cream
this is all nuts….
On the macro level, B&J don’t seem to honor their own mantra.
On the micro level, and please forgive me for saying this as a non-Jew, there seems to be a nearly overwhelming immersion/predisposition of “Must Support Israel because it is me [so I’ve been instructed from early on]” amongst most (I may be wrong, but I believe it to be “most”) even normally/nominally “justice-oriented” people of Jewish ethnicity/…
Tough to get past, imo.
As stated in the piece, B&J hasn’t been able to reconcile the conflict in its mission. But then, it may. This is kind of a test case in the maleability of “Jewish” opinion on Israel, imo.
The sense of humor, like with the frowning smiley face, is the best part.
Good stuff. Hit the settlers where it hurts: in the taste buds. I rarely eat ice cream, but just had some Ben & Jerry’s the other day, and I’ll make that my last until they start living up to their Social Mission.
It’s not just the issue of catering to West Bank settlements.
BJ’s factory there is by an abandoned village whose inhabitants are living in refugee camps.