Ben & Jerry's pro-Palestine co-founder Jerry quits, accuses parent company Unilever of 'silencing' social activism

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield, whose name is synonymous with the iconic ice-cream brand of nearly 50 years, has quit the company.

He declared that he could no longer "in good conscience" remain an employee of the Vermont-based firm, which he claimed has been “silenced” by its UK parent company Unilever.

The founders have made headlines for their pro-Palestine stance and referred to the killings in Gaza as a "genocide".

Greenfield's words were taken from a parting letter shared by his business partner Ben Cohen on X.

After 47 years, Jerry has made the difficult decision to step down from the company we built together. I’m sharing his words as he resigns from Ben & Jerry’s. His legacy deserves to be true to our values, not silenced by @MagnumGlobal #FreeBenAndJerrys pic.twitter.com/EZXGRjs76a

— Ben Cohen (@YoBenCohen) September 17, 2025

Dispute with parent company Unilever

The company's pro-Palestine stance has led to clashes with Unilever.

This, amongst an ongoing series of other disputes, started when the parent company reversed a decision by Ben & Jerry’s to cease sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In retaliation, Ben & Jerry’s has filed a lawsuit against Unilever in July 2022 for continuing to sell its products in the Occupied Palestine Territory, as reported by The Straits Times.

The continued distribution of Ben & Jerry's ice cream had been facilitated by Unilever selling its Israeli arm of the business to Israel-based American Quality Products.

Ben & Jerry's believed that this was "inconsistent" with their values as stated in their official statement.

The brand’s founders, who are Jewish, have defended their decision in an open letter to the New York Times:

“In our view, ending the sales of ice cream in the occupied territories is one of the most important decisions the company has made in its 43-year history.”

Attempt to buy brand back

The Ben & Jerry’s co-founders have attempted to buy the brand back and re-establish its independence by seeking investors that are socially like-minded.

They had proposed a fair market value between US$1.5 billion and US$2.5 billion to investors but this proposal was rejected, as reported by The Business Times.

In his letter, Greenfield said that Ben & Jerry’s has always been a company that advocated for pursuing the values they believed in.

He stated that their independence was due in no small part to the “unique merger agreement” that he and Ben had negotiated with Unilever to protect the brand’s social mission.

This independence is now supposedly “gone”.

Top image from benandjerrys/X, YoBenCohen/X