Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

(JTA) — A federal judge denied ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s attempt to get its parent company Unilever to stop selling the brand’s ice cream in the West Bank.

Andrew L. Carter Jr., a U.S. District judge in Manhattan, said Ben & Jerry’s claim that the sale would harm its brand, which incorporates social justice, was “speculative,” Bloomberg reported, and he blocked the ice cream maker’s appeal for an injunction against Unilever.

Ben & Jerry’s said last year year it would suspend sales to the West Bank while maintaining sales in Israel’s pre-1967 territory. That spurred condemnation by Israeli government officials and some U.S. Jewish organizations, along with calls for a boycott of the ice cream maker.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

In June, after consulting with Jewish groups and Israeli officials, Unilever sold its Israeli business stake to Israel-based American Quality Products, Ltd., which has owned Ben & Jerry’s Israel factories and distributed the product in Israel since 1987. American Quality Products, Ltd. has publicly vowed to continue selling Ben & Jerry’s in the West Bank.

Ben & Jerry’s sued in July to stop the sale, arguing that it violated the agreement the company signed when it sold to Unilever in 2000, which permitted the brand to continue pushing social justice issues.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount