1,000 Israeli Students Call Out Ben & Jerry’s ‘Hypocrisy,’ Accuse Them of ‘Occupying’ Native Land in Vermont

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is guilty of the “occupation” of stolen Native American land, according to a group of Israeli academics and students who accused the famed company of hypocrisy for seeking to stop the sale of its ice cream in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

In a letter addressed to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, signed by over 1,000 Israeli students in higher education as well as academics affiliated with the newly-launched Students for Justice in America, the Vermont-based company was called out for hypocrisy and double standards.

According to a Tuesday report from the New York Post, the Israeli group of students and academics accused the ice cream maker of “illegally” occupying Native American land.

The multi-national brand’s Vermont headquarters, according to the signatories, was originally settled by the Abenaki tribe and, thus, should be evacuated at once.

“We have concluded that your company’s occupation of the Abenaki lands is illegal and we believe it is wholly inconsistent with the stated values that Ben & Jerry’s purports to maintain,” the letter, addressed to the chair of the ice cream maker’s board, Anuradha Mittal, reads. 

“Ironically, in July of the last year you announced that you would discontinue the sale of your products in Israel because you object to the Jewish State allegedly occupying Palestinian territories,” the letter continues.

It also included a demand that the company clear the properties it “occupies” in South Burlington, Waterbury and St. Albans, in order to “return them to the Abenaki people.”

“Your company has no right to these stolen territories,” the letter adds.

The initiative has the support of “Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center,” an Israeli human rights law organization that blasted Ben & Jerry’s “hypocrisy” and false “moral high ground” in its positions on Israel.

If Ben & Jerry’s has the moral high ground for boycotting Judea and Samaria on the allegation of “occupying land”,

We demand that they evacuate their HQ in Vermont for occupying tribal land in Vermont. #Israel pic.twitter.com/1KVWVIpWyq

— Shurat HaDin – שורת הדין (@ShuratHaDin) August 10, 2022

The letter’s tongue-in-cheek accusation follows the ice cream manufacturer taking its parent company, Unilever, to a federal court in New York on Monday for the first hearing in its quest to stop the multinational company from allowing its ice cream to be sold in Israeli West Bank settlements.

Ben & Jerry’s sued Unilever after the consumer goods company announced it was selling the Israeli franchise to a local licensee.

The announcement came almost a year after the American company said it would stop the sale of ice cream in Jewish settlements in the West Bank for being “inconsistent” with its values.

Last year, Ben & Jerry’s faced a wave of backlash after announcing plans to boycott Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, or what it termed “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” with many calling out the Vermont-based company’s hypocrisy for continuing to sell to disputed territories around the world and ignoring Palestinian human rights violations.

Ben & Jerry’s will end sales of our ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Read our full statement: https://t.co/2mGWYGN4GA pic.twitter.com/kFeu7aXOf3

— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) July 19, 2021

“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT),” the company stated in a notice it posted on its website.

In response to the decision, then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett blasted the decision, calling it wrong both “morally” and “commercially.”

“There are many ice cream brands, but only one Jewish state,” he wrote.

Leading news satire site The Babylon Bee ridiculed the decision with a mock flavor depicting the company’s position against the Jewish state.

Ben And Jerry's Introduces Fun New Flavor 'Push The Jews Into The Sea Salt And Caramel' https://t.co/tUXDVtL7vl

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 19, 2021

Ben & Jerry’s is no stranger to controversy, having expressed support for “woke” causes on many occasions.

Last year, the ice cream company called to defund police, characterizing the police-involved shooting of Daunte Wright as being intrinsically linked to “white supremacy.”

The murder of #DaunteWright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the intentional criminalization of Black and Brown communities.

This system can’t be reformed.

It must be dismantled and a real system of public safety rebuilt from the ground up.#DefundThePolice

— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) April 12, 2021

In 2020, the famed company named a flavor after former NFL player and national anthem protester Colin Kaepernick, and erected a billboard in the Super Bowl host city of Tampa Bay depicting him with a raised fist, next to his “Change the Whirled” flavor and signature “I Know My Rights” sign from his “Know Your Rights Camp.”