Ben & Jerry's blocks knock-off brand following Israeli settlement withdrawal

Unilever slammed an Israeli NGO's attempt to seize Ben & Jerry's trademark in the occupied West Bank, following the ice cream company's decision to withdraw its products from illegal Israeli settlements.

Following Ben and Jerry's withdrawal from the occupied West Bank, Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center in late July moved to claim the ice cream giant's brand, under a pretext that it abandoned its trademark.

"The Shurat HaDin Law Center has now registered a commercial entity with the Israeli registry of corporations called 'Judea and Samaria’s Ben & Jerry's'," they said.

The plan involved taking the selling "Judea and Samaria's Finest Frozen Chosen People" complete with a portrait of Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionist movement.

They intended to use Ben & Jerry’s name and match the Vermont company's current ice cream line, as well as adding new flavours and products.

Unilever said that its withdrawal from the occupied territories did not mean it had abandoned its legal rights there.

"Unilever unequivocally rejects all your assertions set forth therein including that Unilever has abandoned its trademark rights for Ben & Jerry’s in what you refer to as the Judea and Samaria region of Israel," the company said in a letter dated on 12 August.

"The Shurat HaDin Law Center has now registered a commercial entity with the Israeli registry of corporations called “Judea and Samaria’s Ben & Jerry’s."

"Please note that we deem any use of the trademark or tradename Ben & Jerry's to be a violation of our intellectual property rights," the letter continued.

The letter went on to address claims that pulling out of illegal settlements had anti-Semitic motivations.

"Finally, and most importantly, Unilever and Ben & Jerry's reject completely and repudiate unequivocally any form of discrimination or intolerance. Antisemitism has no place in any society."

Ben & Jerry’s pulled out of the occupied West Bank in response to a longstanding campaign by the nonviolent Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The move was applauded by Palestinian activists across the world, who have long criticised the ice cream maker's business dealings in the occupied West Bank.

However, it was met with fury by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

"Ben & Jerry's decided to brand itself as anti-Israel ice cream," Bennett said. "The boycott against Israel… reflects that they have totally lost their way. The boycott doesn't work and won't work and we will fight it with all our might.”

Lapid called it "a disgraceful capitulation to antisemitism, to BDS, to all that is evil in the anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish discourse".

Lapid threatened retaliatory measures against the American ice-cream company.

The nonviolent BDS movement says it is inspired by the boycott campaign that targeted South Africa's apartheid regime and is seeking to end Israel's brutal occupation of the West Bank through peaceful, non-violent action.

Israel sees BDS as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism - a claim that activists firmly deny, saying it is an attempt to discredit their cause.

A law was introduced by Israel in March 2017, barring access to the country for individuals and groups who have previously expressed support of the BDS movement.