{"id":303211,"date":"2021-07-20T02:01:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T23:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/morton-williams-cracks-down-on-ben-jerrys-over-israel-controversy\/"},"modified":"2021-07-20T02:01:25","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T23:01:25","slug":"morton-williams-cracks-down-on-ben-jerrys-over-israel-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/morton-williams-cracks-down-on-ben-jerrys-over-israel-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"#Morton Williams cracks down on Ben & Jerry\u2019s over Israel controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Morton Williams cracks down on Ben & Jerry\u2019s over Israel controversy<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Big App<\/a>le supermarket chain Morton Williams has decided to severely curb its sales and marketing of Ben & Jerry ice cream after the popular brand took sides in a long-running Middle East controversy. <\/p>\n

Following a board meeting on Monday, Morton Williams Supermarkets resolved to reduce the Ben & Jerry\u2019s products it sells in its 16 stores by 70 percent, The Post has learned. <\/p>\n

The supermarket\u2019s board also agreed to stop promoting the ice cream in its weekly circulars, and to demote Ben & Jerry\u2019s to the \u201cleast desirable locations\u201d of its freeze aisles, co-owner Avi Kaner, told The Post. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be able to find the product, but you\u2019ll have to look for it,\u201d Kaner said.<\/p>\n

Morton Williams, which boasts 15 stores in NYC and one in New Jersey, made the move after the maker of Chunky Monkey ice cream on Monday announced that it was freezing sales<\/a> to \u201cthe Occupied Palestinian Territory,\u201d\u00a0a term that has been used for years to describe the areas occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Pints
Big Apple supermarket chain Morton Williams has decided to severely curb its sales and marketing of Ben & Jerry ice cream after the popular brand took sides in a long-running Middle East controversy. <\/figcaption>
Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry\u2019s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT),\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cWe also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to withdraw its products from certain territories, the Waterbury, Vermont-based won\u2019t be renewing its licensing agreement with a local franchisee who has distributed its product in Israel since 1987. It will also no longer do business with its current Israel-based manufacturer. <\/p>\n

The ice cream maker clarified that it\u2019s not pulling out of Israel, where it will continue to sell ice cream \u201cthrough a different arrangement.\u201d But Morton Williams\u2019 board remains unimpressed.<\/p>\n

In a press release to announce its decision, Morton Williams said: \u201cThis action is taken in response to Ben & Jerry\u2019s boycott of Jewish communities that are at the center of a territorial dispute in Israel, including the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem \u2013 inhabited by Jews for over 3,000 years.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Shot
Following a board meeting on Monday, Morton Williams Supermarkets resolved to reduce the Ben & Jerry\u2019s products it sells in its 16 stores by 70 percent, The Post has learned. <\/figcaption>
William Farrington<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Added Kaner: \u201cOf all the places in the world to boycott, Ben & Jerry\u2019s has chosen to target the one Jewish nation in the world. <\/p>\n

Kaner said the company is \u201creaching out to other major retailers and distributors in the hope that they will follow suit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morton & Williams, a family-run business, stopped short of eliminating the brand entirely so as not to alienate all of its customers, Kaner said. But the company hopes the partial boycott will send a \u201cstrong message\u201d to Ben & Jerry\u2019s, which is owned, but not controlled, by Unilever.<\/p>\n

Ben & Jerry\u2019s was founded in 1978 by Deadhead pals Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who sold to Unilever in 2000 in an unusual deal that continues to give the social<\/a>ly conscious ice cream maker control over its brand integrity and policies.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s decision Monday follows a tweetstorm on May 18 that had users pouncing on an announcement about new flavors by calling on the company to end the sale of its ice cream in Israeli settlements in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter your company ends business with illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, we can talk about mint ice cream,\u201d one user wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s announcement created a whole new round of controversy with Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the opposition party in Israel, jumping in the fray. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow we know which ice cream NOT to buy,\u201d he tweeted. <\/p>\n

On Monday Kaner tweeted:<\/a> \u201cPlease try H\u00e4agen-Dazs ice cream \u2013 you\u2019ll love it!,\u201d which also elicited heated views from both sides of the Israel-Palestine controversy \u2014 as well as the Haagen-Dazs versus Ben & Jerry\u2019s debate. <\/p>\n

\u201cNah I prefer Ben and Jerry,\u201d one user wrote. <\/p>\n

With reporting by Will Feuer<\/em>\n <\/div>\n