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Ben & Jerry’s board calls for ceasefire in Gaza
(JTA) — The board of Ben & Jerry’s is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, board chair Anuradha Mittal said Tuesday in a statement.
“Peace is a core value of Ben & Jerry’s,” Mittal said in a statement to the Financial Times on Tuesday. “From Iraq to Ukraine [Ben & Jerry’s] has consistently stood up for these principles. Today is no different as we call for peace and a permanent and immediate ceasefire.”
Mittal, who has previously advocated boycotting Israel, said the board’s ceasefire call was made independently of the company itself, which is owned by Unilever. But she said the statement was ““consistent with the history and values of our company.” The statement did not mention Hamas or the hostages the terror group has held in Gaza since it invaded Israel on Oct. 7, launching the war.
The ceasefire call comes after Ben & Jerry’s announced in 2021 that it would no longer sell ice cream in what it termed “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” That announcement sparked heated debate and made Unilever subject to divestment in states across the country that prohibit public investment in companies that boycott Israel.
The following year, the saga ended when Unilever announced that it had sold the company’s rights in Israel to its Israeli licensee — allowing Ben & Jerry’s to remain on Israeli supermarket shelves.
Ben & Jerry’s board objected to that sale, and has waded back into debates over Israel by calling for a ceasefire. It said the statement was in alignment with its “primary responsibility for its social mission and essential brand integrity.” The company did not return the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s request for comment.
Israel rejects a ceasefire calls because it would leave Hamas in power despite its vows to repeat the Oct. 7 massacre, in which it killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage. More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and nearly 200 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Ben & Jerry’s joins a list of organizations and government bodies calling for a ceasefire in the war. In early December, the United Auto Workers Union became the largest union to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, joining the Postal Workers and other unions. Starbucks Workers United, the coffe chain’s union, posted a pro-Palestinian message early in the war, leading to calls to boycott the company.
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed a resolution 8-3 last Tuesday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Those who opposed said it did not do enough to condemn Hamas’ violence.
Last Monday, Americans for Peace Now became the first United States Zionist group to call for an end to the war in Gaza. Other prominent calls have come from the Vatican, the United Nations General Assembly, and various celebrities.
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The post Ben & Jerry’s board calls for ceasefire in Gaza appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.