Ben & Jerry’s sues parent Unilever to block sale of Israeli business
By Jonathan Stempel and Jessica DiNapoli
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Ben & Jerry’s on Tuesday sued its dad or mum Unilever Plc to dam the sale of its Israeli enterprise to a neighborhood licensee, saying it was inconsistent with its values to promote its ice cream within the occupied West Financial institution.
The criticism filed within the U.S. District Court docket in Manhattan mentioned the sale introduced on June 29 threatened to undermine the integrity of the Ben & Jerry’s model, which Ben & Jerry’s board retained independence to guard when Unilever acquired the corporate in 2000.
An injunction towards transferring the enterprise and associated logos to Avi Zinger, who runs American High quality Merchandise Ltd, was important to “shield the model and social integrity Ben & Jerry’s has spent a long time constructing,” the criticism mentioned.
Ben & Jerry’s mentioned its board voted 5-2 to sue, with the 2 Unilever appointees dissenting.
Unilever, in a press release, mentioned it doesn’t focus on pending litigation, however that it had the correct to promote the disputed enterprise and the transaction had already closed.
“It is a carried out deal,” Zinger’s lawyer Alyza Lewin mentioned in a separate assertion. The sale resolved Zinger’s personal lawsuit in March towards Ben & Jerry’s for refusing to resume his license.
The dispute highlights challenges going through client manufacturers taking a stand on Israeli settlements within the occupied West Financial institution.
Most nations contemplate the settlements unlawful. In April 2019, Airbnb Inc reversed a five-month-old choice to cease itemizing properties within the settlements.
Final July, Ben & Jerry’s mentioned it might finish gross sales within the occupied West Financial institution and components of East Jerusalem, and sever its three-decade relationship with Zinger.
Israel condemned the transfer, and a few Jewish teams accused Ben & Jerry’s of anti-Semitism. Some traders, together with at the very least seven U.S. states, divested their Unilever holdings.
Unilever has greater than 400 manufacturers together with Dove cleaning soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Knorr soup and Vaseline pores and skin lotion.
Ben & Jerry’s was based in a renovated gasoline station in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.
Now not concerned in Ben & Jerry’s operations, they wrote within the New York Instances final July that they supported Israel however opposed its “unlawful occupation” of the West Financial institution.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Enhancing by Invoice Berkrot and Himani Sarkar)
