Sept 17 (Reuters) - Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) co-founder Jerry

Greenfield, whose name helped shape the popular ice cream brand,

has quit the company, as its rift with parent Unilever ( UL )

deepened over its stance on the Gaza conflict.

In an open letter addressing the Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) community

that was shared by his partner Ben Cohen on social media

platform X on Wednesday, Greenfield said that the Vermont-based

company has lost its independence since Unilever ( UL ) curtailed its

social activism.

Unilever ( UL ) and Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) have clashed since 2021, when the

Chubby Hubby maker said it would stop sales in the

Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The brand has since sued its parent over alleged efforts to

silence it and described the Gaza conflict as "genocide," a rare

stance for a major U.S. company.

Greenfield said he could no longer "in good conscience"

continue working for a company that had been "silenced" by

Unilever ( UL ), despite a merger agreement meant to safeguard the

brand's social mission.

"That independence existed in no small part because of the

unique merger agreement Ben and I negotiated with Unilever ( UL )," he

wrote in the letter.

A spokesperson for Magnum Ice Cream Company, Unilever's ( UL ) ice

cream unit, said that it "disagrees with Greenfield's

perspective and has sought to engage both co-founders in a

constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry's ( UL )

powerful values-based position in the world."

Magnum said Greenfield stepped down as a brand ambassador

and that he is not a party to the lawsuit.

Unilever ( UL ) did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

Greenfield's departure comes as Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) has been

calling for its own spin-off ahead of a planned listing of

Magnum Ice Cream in November after years of clashing over the

U.S. brand's vocal position on Gaza.

Last week Cohen demanded to "free Ben & Jerry's ( UL )" to protect

its social values, which was rebuffed by new Magnum CEO Peter

ter Kulve.

Cohen said the brand had attempted to engineer a sale to

investors at a fair market value between $1.5 billion and $2.5

billion but the proposal was rejected.

Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) was founded by Cohen and Greenfield in a

renovated gas station in 1978, and kept its socially conscious

mission after Unilever ( UL ) bought it in 2000.

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru;

Editing by Harikrishnan Nair, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and

Muralikumar Anantharaman)