Ben & Jerry’s has been a progressive and political company since it was formed in 1978. Its primary goal is to sell delicious ice cream, but bubbling away under that was a decades-long commitment to social, economic, and environmental justice, spearheaded by founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.
This ethos survived for years, even after a corporate buyout by Unilever. As part of that deal, Ben & Jerry’s maintained an independent board to ensure its social mission isn’t interfered with by meddling executives.
But it seems that its corporate overlords finally had enough last year, stepping in to block development of a special flavor intended to show solidarity with Palestinians and support for their struggle against their occupiers.
Now Ben Cohen has decided that if Unilever is too cowardly to stand against genocide, he’ll do it himself:
Unilever / Magnum stopped Ben & Jerry’s from creating a flavor for Palestine — so I’m doing it
— Ben Cohen (@YoBenCohen) October 28, 2025
myself.
I’ve got a watermelon, an empty pint, and I need your help:
Name the flavor or suggest ingredients
Or design the pint packaging
Tag @yobencohen, @MagnumGlobal use… pic.twitter.com/L3h6Z4Hzw6
Taking to X, he began creating his own flavor of watermelon ice cream – the red, green, and black of the melon symbolizing the Palestinian flag. As he said:
“The scale of suffering of the Palestinian people over the last two years has been unimaginable. So the ceasefire is a welcome relief, but there’s much more work to do to rebuild. Palestinians are still living under occupation, still recovering from years of suffering, especially Palestinian children. They deserve dignity, safety, and the same rights that every human being should have.”
“From the River to the Seed”
He went on to say that Ben & Jerry’s was blocked from developing this flavor in-house by Unilever. So he’s doing what they won’t: developing a watermelon ice cream “that calls for peace in Palestine and calls for repairing all the damage that was done there”.
But he needs help coming up with a name and designing the container. Fortunately, replies were quick with some suggestions: “Watermelon MoveMint”, “KeffiyehYum”, and (my favorite) “From the River to the Seed”.
As for Ben & Jerry’s itself? Cohen says Unilever is engaged in the “corporate butt kissing” of Donald Trump: “It seems like since Trump got elected anything that Trump is against, DEI, black history, protesters’ rights to free speech, all those things got censored.”
Unilever may soon realize they’ve backed the wrong horse, as support for Cohen’s project is snowballing on social media. And, frankly, it sounds delicious. Sign me up for a pint, please!
