Ben & Jerry's
Ice cream shop · Rehoboth
Ha-Meisav St 5, Yavne, Israel
Highlights
Iconic parlor with creative flavors, activist branding, and non-dairy options
Iconic parlor with creative flavors, activist branding, and non-dairy options
"Long known for placing politics at the center of its identity, the company has repeatedly taken public stances on social issues: it declared support for Black Lives Matter in 2016, released a 2019 Bernie Sanders–inspired flavor that used hot cinnamon to symbolize a political revolution, and in 2021 announced it would no longer sell its product in Israel—a move the founders defended in a Times op-ed. The brand maintains an activism section on its website outlining commitments to LGBTQ+ and refugee rights and environmental justice, and has clashed with its parent company, Unilever, over allegations that those commitments were being undermined. Most recently, a co-founder was escorted out of a Senate committee hearing and later charged with the misdemeanor of “crowding, obstructing or incommoding” after protesting U.S. policy toward Gaza, publishing video of the incident to X and denouncing government actions he said were starving civilians and harming children." - Jaya Saxena
"Once the premium, populist go-to, this ice cream brand now feels like a relief from the boutique, status-driven parlors: reliably excellent, unpretentious, and easy to enjoy without overthinking. Fans praise classics like Phish Food—a longtime freezer staple since 1997—alongside 'regular' flavors such as vanilla and cookie dough, and its non-dairy offerings, which are often ranked among the best. Rather than chasing artisanal trends, its mix-ins—chocolate-covered pretzels, caramel cores, marshmallow swirls—are meant to enhance simple pleasure. The company is also distinctively activist: its branding openly supports causes like Black Lives Matter and it has publicly moved to divest from Israel-occupied Palestinian territories, and these positions have continued (and in some ways intensified) even under Unilever ownership, preserving the brand’s pun-filled, hippie-minded ethos." - Jaya Saxena
"After public pushback and renewed attention to the BDS movement and recent violence in Gaza, the company announced it will stop selling its ice cream in Israel-occupied Palestinian territories by declining to renew its regional licensing agreement when it expires at the end of next year. The move was justified as consistent with its social-values mission, even as the company said it will remain in Israel under a different arrangement. Critics argued that operating a factory and distributing product in settlements contradicted the brand’s outspoken progressive activism — including a 1978 founding by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, ownership by Unilever since 2000, a Bernie Sanders–inspired flavor, public support for Black Lives Matter, and other social-justice campaigns — and noted the company’s relative silence after recent attacks on Gaza. The decision prompted commercial and political backlash (some kosher U.S. stores stopped carrying the product and Israeli officials vowed to respond), and exposed internal conflict between the independent board — whose chair Anuradha Mittal said the released statement did not reflect the board’s position — and Unilever leadership, with the board asserting that continued sales in Israel would require its approval." - Jaya Saxena
Yossi Friedman Personal (Yus The Bus)
Mordechai Moses
Ida Ben Ari
Tomer
Omer Korecky
Karen van de Bunt
Noam Lerner
Mordechai seltzer
