An airplane with a banner attacking Ben & Jerry’s Israeli boycotts circled over the ice cream maker's factory and global headquarters on Friday in South Burlington, Vermont. “Serve Ice Cream, Not Hate,” read the banner – which also included the hashtag #BDSisHATE, and the American and Israeli flags – as part of a campaign launched by The Israeli-American Council (IAC) calling on the ice cream maker to stop its boycott of part of the Israeli population, the American-Jewish organization said in a press release. The fly-by set off a global advocacy effort that also features a social media campaign urging people to demand Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company Unilever not align with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, and to renew the Vermont-based ice cream producer’s license with its Israeli manufacturer.
'Serve Ice Cream, Not Hate:' anti-BDS message flies by Ben & Jerry's plant
Reactions on social media were as divided as Chunky Monkey vs. Cherry Garcia in response to a flyover of Ben & Jerry's headquarters by an airplane with an anti-BDS banner.
The IAC called Ben & Jerry's decision to stop selling its ice cream in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, announced on July 19, a "disgraceful surrender to the BDS hate movement." BDS "promotes a culture of fear and violence and seeks to eliminate the Jewish homeland – the only democracy in the Middle East,” the IAC said. “Unilever should rid itself of this discriminatory and morally wrong act, stand by its corporate values and refocus its Ben & Jerry’s brand on serving ice cream and not hate. We urge Unilever to discard this shameful decision, end this boycott and invest instead in peace and prosperity through dialogue.”Reactions on social media to the flyover were as divided as Chunky Monkey vs. Cherry Garcia. "A quick Google search reveals that for the cost of renting a banner plane in Burlington, the IAC could have paid the Hebrew school tuition for a Vermont kindergartener for a whole year," a spectator tweeted on Monday.
"The banner may have convinced two parents to send 4 children to Jewish Day School or a very generous soul to make a donation to reduce tuition for all. @israeliamerican should be congratulated by Jews for doing this - being loud & proud!" another onlooker fired back.