After Ben & Jerry’s franchisees wrote a letter to the board underlining their concerns with the company’s boycott of Judea and Samaria, the company brought in anti-Zionist author Peter Beinart who has called for a “Zionist BDS” to defend its decision, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The letter, signed by 30 Ben & Jerry’s franchisees, urged the company to reconsider its boycott, explaining decision’s harm to them personally and to their businesses.
“The decision that has been made to terminate the contract with Ben & Jerry’s licensee in Israel not only distorts the situation on the ground – it has imposed and will to continue to impose, substantial financial costs on all of us,” they wrote, adding that their families and communities “have shamed us personally for doing business not just with a company that draws controversy, but with one that continues to consider the calculated negative affect on its franchisees as acceptable collateral damage.”
During a conference call with Ben & Jerry’s franchisees and store managers, Beinart spoke about Israel’s "illegal occupation” and alleged that Israel sends soldiers into Palestinian Arab villages to abduct minors, a source told the Free Beacon.
Franchisees were told about the call in a memo describing it as a “learning opportunity” and “respectful discussion” with “Middle East expert Peter Beinart.”
In 2020, Beinart, an outspoken critic of Israel, wrote an article for The Atlantic calling for a one-state solution. He later wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times titled "I No Longer Believe in a Jewish State."
Beinart told the Free Beacon that he was not compensated for his work on behalf of Ben & Jerry’s and has no financial arrangements with parent company Unilever.
He said he was invited to participate in the call due to his promotion of Israel boycotts.
"I wrote a NYT op-ed calling for settlement boycott in 2012. I’ve espoused this view for a long time,” he said.
In a recent newsletter, Beinart said that he had "spoken privately to [Ben & Jerry’s] executives and encouraged their [boycott] efforts.”