Ben & Jerry's resounding failure in trying to prevent the sale of its ice-cream in Judea and Samaria – a move first rejected by its parent company Unilever and now by a US court – is bound to have more far-reaching consequences than Israeli consumers' ability to continue to enjoy the product.
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Israel's victory over the attempted boycott proves that insisting on our rights and uncompromisingly adhering to our principles pays off.
For years, we were used to efforts aimed at delegitimizing us. First, it was the Arab boycott, which expanded to other countries and companies that should have stood by Israel because they had no connection to the Arabs who tried to wipe the young Jewish state off the map. Their secondary boycott was particularly cynical: these nations and conglomerates simply surrendered to the forceful violence of those who seek to harm us, compromising their principles for nothing.
No wonder that those boycotting Israel were never satisfied with inflicting economic damage alone. They \wanted to isolate the Jewish state too, and strip it of its legitimacy through boycotting it in every arena, from international organizations to culture and sports.
Even when the Arab boycott stronghold was breached in the 1990s, the tools continued to be used by our enemies – now by left-wing organizations and Western countries – which were enthusiastic about embracing the anti-Zionist vision and isolating Israel with fervor that would have put the Nazi campaigns to shame.
For the Left, the outline was clear: to bring an anti-Israel atmosphere into every sphere of life, to ostracize the Jewish state and prepare the ground for the expansion of sanctions against it, all the way to government and international institutions.
Israel was targeted from all directions, and yet, it did nothing. The peak of the wave occurred around the turn of the century, which is no coincidence. The Oslo Accords and the disengagement policies only reinforced the boycott movement. A little bit more effort, the activists believed, and Israel will break.
And they spared no effort: Israeli scientists were excluded from international conferences and projects, international companies cut ties with Israeli tenders, and talks of boycotting corporations and banks that dared invest in Israel became common knowledge.
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The trend began to change when Israel and its allies – Jewish communities in the Diaspora, first and foremost – stopped turning the other cheek and began to retaliate against our enemies.
We are beginning to see the fruits of their efforts with the Ben & Jerry affair, a victory that would have been impossible without continuous efforts to spread the truth: that boycotting Israel is antisemitic, and as such, is intolerable and unacceptable.
And yet, the fight is not over. There are still battles against the boycott movement to be fought, but the ice cream precedent is sweeter than ever. Our bravery brought us a victory.
