Ben & Jerry’s Israel distributor seeks injunction to keep selling during lawsuit

The Israeli manufacturer and distributor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has filed for an immediate court-ordered injunction to keep its license agreement with the ice cream maker and its parent company, Unilever, during an ongoing court case.

Avi Zinger and his company, American Quality Products (AQP), filed the formal motion with the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, his lawyers said on Monday.

Zinger and AQP sued Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever in the court earlier this month, claiming the companies unlawfully terminated their business relationship, after boycotting sales in the West Bank last year. The agreement is set to expire at the end of 2022.

The new injunction seeks to prevent Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s from terminating their license agreement with AQP before the plaintiff’s claims are resolved. It would allow AQP to continue manufacturing and distributing Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and Israeli-controlled areas.

Unilever’s response to the injunction is due on April 4, and the court will hear oral arguments on April 18.

The motion argues that Unilever will cause AQP “irreparable injury” without an injunction, will possibly harm others, and go against the public interest, all legal requirements for injunctive relief.

The plaintiffs say the boycott announcement has severely harmed AQP’s sales, caused upheaval in its business, and threatens it with “total destruction.”

The injunction request also says ending the business agreement threatens AQP’s diverse workforce of 169 employees with unemployment.

It says that Unilever will suffer almost no ill effects if the business agreement ends during litigation, noting that the conglomerate continues to sell other products, including Strauss ice cream, in Israel and the West Bank.

The plaintiffs say the injunction will serve the public interest by benefiting consumers, keeping legal compliance for all parties in the US and Israel and deterring similar cases of companies acting in bad faith.

Last summer, Ben & Jerry’s announced that it will no longer sell its products in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” apparently referring to West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem.

AQP refused to comply, saying the move was illegal in Israel and the US, so Ben & Jerry’s said it will not renew the Israeli licensee’s agreement at the end of 2022 — effectively ending the business relationship.

The boycott announcement came after a heavy pressure campaign from anti-Israel and progressive activists. The decision sparked uproar in Israel and among some US Jewish groups, many of whom called it antisemitic, since the company has no boycotts against any other area of the world.

The lawsuit filed earlier this month requests that a US federal court deem Unilever’s move illegal, and enable AQP to keep selling Ben & Jerry’s products throughout Israel and the West Bank. It also seeks a jury trial and damages.

The lawsuit argues that the boycott of the West Bank violates US and Israeli law, and that since there is no legal mechanism to continue business while violating those laws, the move amounts to an illegal boycott of the entire Jewish state.

The company also violated several US laws that block anti-Israel boycotts, plus numerous state laws, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit alleges Unilever directed AQP to violate two Israeli laws: a non-discrimination law, which includes a ban on discrimination based on residence and place of origin; and a law prohibiting a boycott against Israel, or an area under Israeli control.

The firm filed the lawsuit in the US District Court of New Jersey, the state where Unilever’s American branch is headquartered. It was also filed against Conopco, Inc., another US branch of Unilever, a UK-based multinational.

The Ben & Jerry’s West Bank boycott has caused a headache for Unilever and heavy repercussions. At least six US states divested a total of hundreds of millions of dollars from Unilever because the move violated anti-boycott laws. The company’s stock has dropped 25 percent since the announcement, while the broader market is at nearly the same level.

Critics of the West Bank boycott note that Ben & Jerry’s sells products to states with atrocious human rights records, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and China. The company also sells in other disputed territories including Tibet, Crimea, Western Sahara, and Kashmir.

Supporters of the boycott Israel movement say that in urging businesses, artists, and universities to sever ties with Israel, they are using nonviolent means to oppose unjust policies toward Palestinians. Israel says the movement masks its motives to delegitimize or destroy the Jewish state.

Zinger and AQP are represented attorneys from the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law Greenberg, Dauber, Epstein and Tucker; Lewin and Lewin, LLP; and Zell, Aron & Co.