\u201cMilk and Honey\u201d is made with dairy from a kibbutz that was attacked on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n
(JTA<\/a>) Ben & Jerry\u2019s Israel operation has come up with a flavor that does not leave much to interpretation. Called \u201cMilk and Honey,\u201d a nod to the biblical description of the Land of Israel, its namesake ingredients are supplied by Israeli cows and bees and its chocolate fudge pieces come shaped like Stars of David.<\/p>\n The company, which split from its American counterpart after a contentious 2021 boycott fight, is billing the new pint as its \u201cmost Israeli flavor ever<\/a>\u201d and, on its website, as a \u201csymbol of hope, rehabilitation, and positive action\u201d after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.<\/p>\n Its ingredients and production come from southern Israeli communities most affected by the massacre and the war that followed. The company, based in the southern city of Kiryat Malachi, said it \u201cfelt a responsibility to take an active part in the region\u2019s recovery process.\u201d<\/p>\n The milk and cream come from the dairy in Kibbutz Alumim, one of the Gaza-border communities infiltrated by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. The honey comes from the beehives of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai. The chocolate Stars of David are made by hand at the Korint factory in Beersheba, part of the Shkulo Tov social enterprise, which helps integrate people with disabilities into the workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even the wrapper is local: the pint is adorned with \u201cFields of Light,\u201d a painting by Rivi Doron-Gerloy, a southern Israeli artist who was killed in a Miami car accident last year.<\/p>\n The flavor was developed in partnership with the Ayalim Association, a nonprofit that works to strengthen Israel\u2019s periphery. The company said royalties from sales of the new flavor will go to Ayalim\u2019s rehabilitation and educational initiatives in the south.<\/p>\n The Israeli and American Ben & Jerry\u2019s operations are now completely separate, a split that followed one of the more improbable diplomatic dramas ever to involve ice cream. In 2021, Ben & Jerry\u2019s said it would stop selling in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying sales there were \u201cinconsistent\u201d with its values.<\/p>\n The move set off an uproar in Israel. President Isaac Herzog called the boycott<\/a> a \u201cnew kind of terrorism,\u201d while Benjamin Netanyahu, then opposition leader, retweeted<\/a> the company\u2019s announcement that it would stop selling in the \u201cOccupied Palestinian Territories,\u201d writing, \u201cNow we Israelis know which ice cream NOT to buy,\u201d alongside Israeli flag and flexed-bicep emojis.<\/p>\n The original founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who no longer control the company but remain its best-known faces, also came under fire after the decision. In an interview, they were asked why the boycott logic did not extend to places such as Georgia and Texas, despite their opposition to those states\u2019 voting rights and abortion laws.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy do you still sell ice cream in Georgia? Texas?\u201d Axios reporter Alexi McCammond asked in a video that went viral<\/a> on pro-Israel platforms.<\/p>\n Clearly stumped, Cohen shrugged his shoulders. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he said, laughing<\/a>. \u201cYou ask a really good question and I think I\u2019d have to sit down and think about it for a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Unilever\u2019s then-chief executive, Alan Jope, also appeared to suggest that Israel had become an inconveniently sticky scoop of activism. \u201cThere is plenty for Ben & Jerry\u2019s to get their teeth into in their social justice mission without straying into geopolitics,\u201d he reportedly said<\/a> in a quarterly earnings review at the time.<\/p>\n The standoff ended, at least commercially, when Unilever, Ben & Jerry\u2019s parent company, sold the Israeli business in 2022 to Avi Zinger, the longtime Israeli licensee and owner of American Quality Products. The sale was accompanied by a legal fight that was inflamed when Zinger told an Israeli news outlet that, once he took control of the company in Israel, he could rename the signature flavor \u201cChunky Monkey\u201d to \u201cJudea and Samaria,\u201d the Hebrew term for the West Bank.<\/p>\n Under the ultimate deal, Ben & Jerry\u2019s could continue to be sold throughout Israel and in Israeli settlements, under Hebrew and Arabic branding, while the Vermont-based company said it disagreed with the move and would no longer profit from Israeli sales.<\/p>\n The split left the Israeli operation in an unusual position: carrying one of the most recognizable American ice cream names, while openly defying the political stance associated with that name abroad.<\/p>\n But the corporate restructuring has not been enough to cleanse the palate for everyone. On social media, the new flavor drew curiosity and praise, but also lingering resentment from those who said the brand name still carried too much baggage, even under Israeli ownership.<\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t care if it\u2019s owned by someone other than Ben and Jerry in Israel. Those two clowns\u2019 names are still associated with the brand. I wouldn\u2019t spend a penny for this ice cream regardless. That brand is done,\u201d one person wrote on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been eating H\u00e4agen-Dazs since October 7th,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n Last year, Cohen announced<\/a> that he planned to produce a \u201cflavor for Palestine\u201d independently after Unilever blocked Ben & Jerry\u2019s from creating one, soliciting suggestions about what should accompany watermelon, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, in his concoction.<\/p>\n \u201cMilk and Honey\u201d has come to market faster. So does the new flavor deliver a taste of the Holy Land?<\/p>\n One food influencer<\/a>, who called the new flavor a \u201cstatement,\u201d offered a less scriptural verdict on the taste, shrugging that it \u201ctastes like vanilla with chocolate chips\u201d \u2014 a conclusion echoed by others in Israeli food aficionado groups<\/a>, who lamented that the honey was barely noticeable.<\/p>\n One commented, referring to dairy-free desserts made to comply with kosher laws prohibiting the mixing of milk and meat: \u201cNot the tastiest thing I\u2019ve ever eaten, but not as bad as a pareve dessert either.\u201d<\/p>\n The Detroit Jewish News has been supported by readers like you since 1942. Support independent, local, Jewish journalism with a donation today.<\/p>\n