Ben & Jerry's accuses Unilever of silencing it over pro-Palestine stance
Ben & Jerry's is back in court again, and this time it's suing its parent company Unilever over accusations that it silenced the ice cream maker's attempts to express support for a ceasefire in Gaza and support Palestinian refugees.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Ben & Jerry's said Unilever breached the terms of a previous agreement that gave the ice cream company responsibility over its "social mission".
Despite this, Ben & Jerry's said it was silenced four separate times when it tried calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, advocating for halting US military aid to Israel, supporting university students protesting against Israel's war on Gaza, and supporting the safe passage of Palestinian refugees from Gaza to the UK.
"Ben & Jerry's has on four occasions attempted to publicly speak out in support of peace and human rights," according to the lawsuit. "Unilever has silenced each of these efforts."
In the lawsuit, Ben & Jerry's also said Peter ter Kulve, Unilever's head of ice cream, said he was concerned that the company being vocal on the war on Gaza could lead to a "continued perception of anti-Semitism".
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According to the legal filing, Unilever is required to give Ben & Jerry's $5m so the brand can donate to human rights groups of its choosing. Ben & Jerry's selected two organisations, the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but Unilever objected. The lawsuit states that Unilever said JVP was "too critical of the Israeli government".
Tensions between Ben & Jerry's and Unilever have brewed for years and can be traced back to 2021, when Ben & Jerry's said it would stop selling its products in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. It said at the time that selling its products in those settlements was “inconsistent” with the company's values.
The move was met with fierce opposition from Israeli lawmakers, as well as American lawmakers and state governments who threatened to pull their investments in Unilever.
Following the backlash, Unilever announced it would sell Ben & Jerry's business interests in Israel to businessman Avi Zinger, the current Israeli licensee of the ice cream brand. The sale would effectively reverse the decision made by the company to stop operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
To stop this from happening, Ben & Jerry's filed a lawsuit against Unilever to block the sale of its business interests in Israel. Eventually, the two sides reached a settlement in December 2022.
Ben & Jerry's new lawsuit stems from this 2022 settlement, which has continued to remain confidential.
"Our heart goes out to all victims of the tragic events in the Middle East. We reject the claims made by B&J’s social mission board, and we will defend our case very strongly," Unilever said in a statement to Reuters.
"We would not comment further on this legal matter," it added.
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