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Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen has said the brand’s parent company, Unilever, blocked it from launching an ice cream flavour in support of Palestine.

In a video post shared on social media platform Instagram, Cohen said that Unilever/The Magnum Ice Cream Company (Unilever’s soon-to-be spun-off ice cream business) had "a while back" prevented the brand’s creation of a new ice cream flavour to “call for peace in Palestine” amid the Israel-Gaza conflict.

He revealed that instead, he now plans to independently launch the flavour, calling on the public to submit ideas for its ingredient formulation, name and packaging design.

The recipe will centre around watermelon, which has become a widely used symbol used to express solidarity with Palestine due to its colours (red, black, white and green) matching those of the Palestinian flag.

This development is the latest in a long dispute between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, which acquired the Ben & Jerry’s brand for $326 million in 2000.

Ben & Jerry’s co-founders, Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, have accused Unilever of standing in the way of their social mission and silencing them on various political issues. Due to this, Greenfield announced his resignation from the ice cream brand after 47 years last month.

In his video announcing the new Palestine-themed flavour, Cohen referenced the brand’s earlier refusal to sell its products in areas occupied by Israel – a move he said Unilever also blocked. Ben & Jerry’s announced it would no longer sell its ice cream in the occupied territories in 2021, but Unilever sold its Israeli business to a local licensee, enabling the products to continue being sold in the West Bank.

In a statement, a Unilever spokesperson said: “Throughout our ownership of Ben & Jerry’s, we have been committed to its unique three-part mission – product, economic and social. We have always sought to work constructively with the Ben & Jerry’s teams to make sure we stayed true to the original agreement around the progressive, non-partisan social mission.”

Unilever’s The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC) is currently on track to complete its demerger by the end of 2025, Unilever revealed last week. Following the demerger, Unilever will retain a 19.9% stake in the newly independent TMICC.