A graphic designer under contract with Ben & Jerry’s since 2000 has resigned over the company’s statement on Israel. Susannah Levin said last week in a Facebook post that she would leave the company “effective immediately” and said that “anti-Zionism IS the new antisemitism.” She added that Ben & Jerry’s response is part of this despicable trend and I will have no part of it.”
Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would no longer sell ice cream in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” when its contract with its Israeli distributor expires at the end of the year. The distributor has said it will not differentiate between Israel and the West Bank. The ice cream company’s parent company, Unilever, has said that the cold confection will continue to be sold within the 1967 borders after the expiration of the current distributor’s contract.
“Unilever remains fully committed to our business in Israel,” Unilever CEO Alan Jope said Thursday.
“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 said in a statement last week announcing the boycott of territories captured by Israel in 1967.