Ben & Jerry's fails to stop sales in Israeli settlements

A US judge has denied a request by Ben & Jerry's to stop a deal by its parent company Unilever that allows its ice cream to continue being sold in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

In June, Unilever reversed a decision by Ben & Jerry's to halt such sales and instead agreed to transfer its Israeli business to the local licensee.

The ice cream maker's board argued that its social mission could be undermined.

But the judge said the company had not shown it would suffer irreparable harm.

US-based Ben & Jerry's has a history of political activism, and when the company was bought by UK-based consumer goods giant Unilever in 2000 it was allowed to retain an independent board to oversee its social mission.

Last year, the ice cream maker announced that it was stopping sales "in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)" because they were "inconsistent with our values".

About 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Ben & Jerry's decision was welcomed by Palestinian activists behind the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for a complete boycott of Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians. But Israeli politicians reacted furiously, with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid calling it a "disgraceful capitulation" to anti-Semitism and BDS.

Unilever said in late June that it was selling Ben & Jerry's business interests in Israel to local licensee Avi Zinger. Ben & Jerry's ice cream would be sold by Mr Zinger under its Hebrew and Arabic names, and not under its English names, it added.

Mr Lapid, who is now also serving as Israel's interim prime minister, praised the reversal as a victory "against discrimination and hate". However, Ben & Jerry's board said it did "not agree" with its parent company and sought an injunction.

During a hearing at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York earlier this month, lawyers representing the board said the deal violated the terms of the 2000 takeover and could allow Mr Zinger to make ice creams with names that opposed its social stances.

Unilever said the deal could not be halted because it had already closed.

On Monday, District Judge Andrew Carter ruled that the Ben & Jerry's board had "failed to demonstrate" that it would suffer irreparable harm and rejected the board's argument that customers could be confused as "too speculative".

There was no immediate comment from the Ben & Jerry's board or Unilever.

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