Ben & Jerry’s Sued over Child Labor after Anti-Israel Boycott Bid

Breitbart News reports that woke ice cream giant Ben & Jerry’s is being sued for its “hypocritical” use of child labor, despite the company’s oft-stated commitment to social justice causes.

The news of child labor comes on the heels of a settlement with its parent company, Unilever, which Ben & Jerry’s accused of violating a merger deal signed over two decades ago with its recent decision to allow the sale of its Israel-based operations. despite an attempted boycott by the ice cream maker.

The company’s involvement with child labor came to light shortly after it settled a high-profile legal battle with its parent firm over an attempted boycott against Israel, which Israel supporters viewed as prejudiced. The Ben & Jerry’s board responsible for the boycott has stayed mum about the labor issue, while its leader has continued to take shots at Israel.

A New York Times investigation published last month alleged Ben & Jerry’s dairy facilities exploit migrant child laborers, often for dangerous and factory jobs, despite the ice cream company’s declared mission to “honor and stand with” migrants.

More than 100 migrant children interviewed for the expose, many of whom had entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors from Central America, “described jobs that were grinding them into exhaustion, and fears that they had become trapped in circumstances they never could have imagined,” the report said.

The children work to pay back smugglers, pay for living, and send to their families back home, the report said.

Plaintiff Dovid Tyrnauer filed a federal class action lawsuit against Ben & Jerry’s in a New York court, the Times of Israel reported. The case argues Ben & Jerry’s had misrepresented its ethical commitments to consumers. When Ben & Jerry’s sued Unilever – effectively for not agreeing to boycott Israel – their legal argument was heavily based on its sense of justice, Tyrnauer’s lawsuit claimed.

“While Ben & Jerry’s purports to use ethical supply chains and professes concern about farmworker welfare, the reality could not be further from the truth. Migrant child labor is used in Ben & Jerry’s supply chains,” the lawsuit claimed. “Ben & Jerry’s wishes to have its ice cream and eat it too. It wishes to sell premium priced products with pompous virtue-signaling representations regarding its supposedly ethical sourcing, all the while migrant child labor is used in its supply chains. Put simply, this is a case about greed run amok.”