Ben & Jerry’s threw their support behind the Defund the Police movement last year

Vermont ice cream giant and social justice enclave Ben & Jerry’s received backlash Monday from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, after announcing the company would no longer sell its frozen desserts in "Occupied Palestinian Territory."

The ice cream company has been vocal in the past about social justice issues and announced they will no longer be selling their desserts in "Occupied Palestinian Territory," the West Bank and Gaza Strip.


"We have a long-standing partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region," the company said in a Monday press release. "We have been working to change this, and so we have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year."

"Although Ben & Jerry’s will no longer be sold in the OPT, we will stay in Israel through a different arrangement," the release concluded. "We will share an update on this as soon as we’re ready."

The announcement drew a sharp rebuke from Bennett and Netanyahu, with the current Israeli prime minister saying Ben & Jerry's "decided to brand itself as anti-Israel ice cream."

"The boycott against Israel… reflects that they have totally lost their way," Bennett added. "The boycott doesn’t work and won’t work and we will fight it with all our might."

"Now we Israelis know which ice cream NOT to buy," Netanyahu tweeted on Monday, including emojis of the Israeli flag and a flexing bicep.