One of the lefty co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s is making a Palestine-themed sorbet on his own after parent company Unilever allegedly blocked the ice cream giant from releasing the flavor.
Ben Cohen claimed Tuesday that Unilever and its spinoff Magnum Ice Cream Company had “stopped Ben & Jerry’s from creating a flavor for Palestine.”
“So I’m doing what they couldn’t,” he said as he squashed watermelons into juice in a video posted on X. “I’m making a watermelon-flavored ice cream that calls for permanent peace in Palestine and calls for repairing all the damage that was done there.”
Watermelons have become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity – appearing on signs at protests and in social media comments – since the fruit’s red, green, black and white colors match those on the Palestinian flag.
Cohen asked supporters to submit ingredient and pint design suggestions, saying the winner “gets their flavor made and design printed.”
A spokesperson for the Magnum Ice Cream Company said members of the brand’s independent board suggested a flavor to honor Palestinians over the summer, but the board is not responsible for Ben & Jerry’s “commercial strategy.”
“Recommendations are considered by Ben & Jerry’s leadership, and Ben & Jerry’s management has determined it is not the right time to invest in developing this product,” the spokesperson told The Post.
It added that Ben & Jerry’s is involved in other political campaigns, like advocating for improved refugee accommodations in the UK and defense of free speech in the US.
Ben & Jerry’s did not answer a Post request for comment.
The Palestinian sorbet snafu is the latest in a drawn-out battle between the liberal founders of Ben & Jerry’s – a Vermont-based company known for funky flavors like Phish Food and Chunky Monkey – and Unilever.
Tensions started to brew in 2021, when the ice cream company announced it would stop sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Unilever responded by selling off Ben & Jerry’s license for the region.
Since then, Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield have accused the parent company of muzzling the brand’s lefty politics.
In November 2024, the independent directors of Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit accusing the parent company of gagging the ice cream maker from speaking out in support of Palestinian refugees.
In a court filing, the board also accused Unilever of abruptly firing Ben & Jerry’s CEO David Stever without giving board members a chance to interview replacement candidates. Stever started as a tour guide for the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury, Vt., in 1988.
The board claimed it was excluded from the appointment process of new CEO Jochanan Senf – a Dutch Unilever exec – because of its political activism.
The company’s ability to maintain an independent board was a key part of the agreement by Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 to be acquired by Unilever.
In recent posts on X, Cohen has been urging his roughly 95,000 followers to write to Magnum’s CEO and board.
He recently noted that the government shutdown, which has delayed IPOs including Magnum’s, gives them “a real shot to free Ben & Jerry’s.”
Earlier this year, when Unilever announced it would spin off its ice cream unit, the company made clear it has no intention of selling Ben & Jerry’s – despite a bid from Cohen and Greenfield.
The duo, childhood friends from Long Island, NY, created Ben & Jerry’s in 1978. They later sold the brand to Unilever for $326 million.
