Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Jerry Greenfield has retired after nearly 50 years, accusing the United Kingdom-based parent company Unilever of silencing the ice cream brand’s social mission, particularly regarding Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza , according to his business partner Ben Cohen.

In an open letter addressing the Ben & Jerry community that was shared by Cohen on social media platform X on Wednesday, Greenfield called it one of the “hardest and most painful decisions” he had ever made.

Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have clashed since 2021, when the Vermont-based company said it would stop sales in the occupied West Bank as doing so was “inconsistent with our values”.

The brand has since sued its parent company over alleged efforts to silence it and described Israel’s war on Gaza as

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