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Ben Cohen, one of the two minds behind the famously outspoken ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, embarked on a mission two weeks ago with his viewers, searching for a new Palestine-themed ice cream. It looks like he has now found the recipe he was looking for! Watermelon, mint and dark chocolate are all it takes to create the Palestinian-inspired pint.

Earlier this month, the 74-year-old co-founder posted a video on Instagram announcing the plan to independently create a flavour “that calls for permanent peace in Palestine” — one that supports the “repairing all the damage that was done there”.

The reason: Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s parent company, blocked the brand from creating a flavour for Palestine.

“A while back, Ben & Jerry’s tried to make a flavour to call for peace in Palestine… but they weren’t allowed to,” he said, adding that the move echoed earlier disputes over halting sales in illegal Israeli settlements. “They were stopped by Unilever/Magnum.”

But that did not stop Cohen — he took matters into his own hands, or should we say his viewers’ hands. Holding up a watermelon and an empty ice-cream pint, he told viewers he needed three things: the ingredients, the name, and the pint design.

“I have a watermelon, and an empty pint of ice cream — and I need your help.”

What followed was a flood of creativity — from knafeh-inspired recipes to AI-generated packaging featuring doves, keffiyeh and olive branches. The idea that stood out the most to Cohen came from librarian and mother Laura Davis’ recipe.

Davis and Cohen have now teamed up to develop a sorbet inspired by a longstanding Palestinian symbol: the watermelon.

Cohen explained to his followers why the watermelon holds such meaning: “Israel would not let Palestinians fly the Palestinian flag. They made it illegal. You could be arrested. And so what the Palestinians did was they started displaying flags that had a picture of a watermelon on it, because the colours of watermelon are the same colours as the Palestinian flag.”

Hence, the sorbet is a mix of fresh watermelon for the red, roughly chopped mint leaves for the green, and dark chocolate shavings to represent watermelon seeds. All ingredients blended by hand to leave the chunky watermelon bits, and sent to the tabletop ice-cream maker to churn.

The once-empty pint is now full. All that remains is to choose the name and artwork for the tub. Cohen has promised a lifetime supply of ice cream to the winners — if he succeeds in “freeing Ben & Jerry’s from Unilever”.

Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever in 2000, negotiating a unique structure to safeguard the brand’s social mission. But the founders have repeatedly accused Unilever of undermining that independence, most recently leading to Greenfield’s resignation in September.

The ice-cream maker has long aligned itself with progressive causes, from LGBTQ rights to climate justice. However, its stance on Palestine brought corporate tension.

In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s said it would stop selling ice cream in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, prompting a legal clash with Unilever.

“We need to free Ben & Jerry’s so that it could go back to acting on its values for speaking up for justice and decency, even if it’s controversial, that’s especially when you need to speak up for it”, Cohen said during his call for ideas for the new icecream tub.

Last year, the company sued its parent over what it said were repeated attempts to silence its advocacy for a ceasefire and Palestinian rights.

Cohen himself has been directly involved in activism. He was arrested in May while protesting US military aid to Israel during a US Senate committee hearing.

Whether the pint ever makes it to shelves or not, one thing is clear: Cohen isn’t waiting for corporate approval to stand by Palestine — he’s just making his own flavour of resistance.