March Against Ben & Jerry’s NYC
PROTEST TO END JEW HATRED AT BEN & JERRY'SWITH A MARCH TO BEN & JERRY’S NYC
Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 5:30 PM
Steps of the New York Public Library, 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018.
The event will have private security and NYPD presence
PROTEST FOLLOWED BY A WEEK OF ACTION AGAINST BEN & JERRY’S
ACROSS THE WORLD (SEE BELOW)
COALITION OF ELECTED OFFICIALS, RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND COMMUNITY ADVOCATES JOIN THE #ENDJEWHATRED MOVEMENT, TO PROTEST BEN & JERRY’S “HALF-BAKED” DECISION TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST JEWS
Assemblymember Daniel Rosenthal, Councilmember Kalman Yeger, and Coalition of Jewish Community Organizations Join the #EndJewHatred Movement to Reject Hate
Advocates To Hand Out Ice Cream and Denounce Corporate Boycotts of Jewish People and Jewish-Owned Businesses in Judea
In the wake of Ben & Jerry’s racist decision to stop selling ice cream in Judea and Samaria, elected officials, religious leaders, and community advocates are holding a protest to #EndJewHatred at Ben & Jerry’s, and to oppose anti-Semitic and illegal commercial boycotts against Jewish people and the Jewish state. The protest comes as officials in at least 5 states - Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois - express their deep concern and intentions to evaluate whether to divest their public pension funds from Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever. Local NYC institutions, such as Morton Williams and Gristedes have reduced their offerings of Ben & Jerry’s products in New York.
Ben & Jerry’s illegal boycott is the biggest act of corporate antisemitism since Airbnb – which ended up settling multiple lawsuits and reversing its discriminatory policy. Ben & Jerry’s act creates an atmosphere where Jew-hatred is legitimized, and emboldens violence against Jews. Just this past weekend, mobs demanding global violence against Jews took to the streets of Brooklyn. This is a consequence of normalizing Jew-hatred, which is what Ben & Jerry’s is doing.
Activists and community leaders will hand out free ice cream and educational materials about the dangerous movement to boycott Jewish people [the so-called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement] and call for a “week of action” at Ben & Jerry’s stores and properties around the world. Protestors will then march to Ben & Jerry’s and receive free ice-cream from its competitors who don’t engage in Jew-hatred and discrimination.
Elected officials including Assemblymember Daniel Rosenthal, Councilmember Kalman Yeger, and a coalition of numerous Jewish community organizations join the #EndJewHatred movement in calling for a boycott of Ben & Jerry’s and complete State divestment from its parent company Unilever, unless Unilever reverses its bigoted and discriminatory decision. The #EndJewHatred movement is mobilizing thousands of activists, starting with a major protest on August 12th in New York City to end racism in corporate policies.
"The recent decisions undertaken by Ben & Jerry's and Unilever betray the insidious nature of the BDS movement," said Assembly Member Daniel Rosenthal. "Whether through negligent ignorance or willful action, the BDS movement is normalizing hate and antisemitism across our country. New York stands with the worldwide Jewish community in rejecting this rhetoric and calling on Ben & Jerry's to reverse their position."
Said Club Z Founder and Executive Director Masha Merkulova, and #EndJewHatred co-founder and activist, “When Ben & Jerry’s board decided to stop selling in Judea, Jews around the world immediately understood the long history of antisemitism that went into it. Let’s be clear: we reject the premise that Jews are anything other than the indigenous people who are now living in their ancestral homeland. To call Jews in Judea illegal, is an expression of bigotry and racist Jew-hatred. To call for a Judenrein state of Palestine, is nothing but modern Nazism. Unilever’s racist decision will have negative repercussions for both the Jews and Muslims who work side by side, and whose livelihoods depend on the stable employment that Ben & Jerry’s Israel provides. This half-baked decision should be reversed immediately. Club Z proudly stands up to mobilize our youth against hate and the normalization of the Jew-hater movement known as the BDS movement."
Said The Lawfare Project Executive Director Brooke Goldstein, and #EndJewHatred co-founder and activist, “It’s so encouraging to see the Jewish community and our allies unified around a single demand, to end Jew-hatred at Ben & Jerry's, and in corporations generally. There is no place for racism and bigotry, especially by major corporations like Unilever, in the 21st century. Ben & Jerry’s fateful decision to engage in a commercial boycott of Jewish people and Jewish-owned businesses, is already proving to have major social and legal consequences. The movement to sever the Jewish connection to the land of Israel is a hateful campaign of modern-day colonialism, cultural genocide and indigenous erasure.”
Said Roz Rothstein, Co-Founder and CEO of StandWithUs, an international education organization that supports Israel and combats antisemitism, "It should be clear by now that Ben & Jerrys board has made a dreadful mistake by blaming only Israel for the lack of peace while ignoring variables like Hamas terrorism, abuse of the Palestinian people by their own despotic leadership, and Palestinian rejection of Israel’s many peace offers. We sincerely hope that Unilever and Ben & Jerry's will go the way of AirBnB and resort to full relations and business with Israel for the sake of Israelis and Palestinians alike."
WHAT: Protest to #EndJewHatred at Ben & Jerry’s with a march to Ben & Jerry’s NYC and free ice cream, followed by a week of action against Ben & Jerry’s across the world
WHEN: Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 5:30 PM
WHERE: Steps of the New York Public Library. 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018.
WHO: Assembly Member Dan Rosenthal, Council Member Kalman Yeger, Club Z, The Lawfare Project, Stand With Us, Alums for Campus Fairness, Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation (CAEF), End Jew Hatred Canada, Herut North America, Yad Yamin, EMET, and Scholars for Peace in the Middle East in support of the movement to #EndJewHatred at Ben and Jerry’s
Come to the New York Public Library on August 12th at 5:30 PM to protest Ben & Jerry's. If you are unable to attend you can hold your own event.
JOIN THE WEEK OF ACTION AGAINST BEN & JERRY’S WORLDWIDE!
To host a solidarity event at your local Ben & Jerry’s use the below checklist:
Create a Facebook event page and invite friends and local Jewish activists in your area. Share information about the event on all your social media platforms with #EndJewHatred and tag @BenandJerrys
Print and distribute flyers (download designs here).
Write a short introduction for your event. Feel free to take from this website. Post it on social media.
Send a press release to local media outlets the day before your event.
Call and text everyone you think will be interested, letting them know what’s going on. Follow up with them the morning of the event to make sure they are coming.
On college campuses, contact student organizations and ask for their help in promoting your event.
Contact your friends and any pro-Jewish people you know. If you live in a Jewish area, talk to people! Tell them how important this is for the Jewish community, and give flyers to local synagogues and Jewish stores.
You will need volunteers to do the following things:
Manage outreach and keep track of who is coming to the protest.
Livestream the video of your protest.
Hand out flyers to passers-by.
An MC to coordinate and run the event.
A safety and security coordinator to make sure everyone stays safe.
A designated media contact to speak to the press.
End Jew Hatred at Ben & Jerry’s signs
A clipboard and pens to collect email addresses for future events.
Your phone to take photos and videos! Upload them to social media and use the hashtag #EndJewHatred and tag @BenandJerrys
With any questions, please email us at