For Haagen-Dazs, victory is sweet

JERUSALEM, Jan. 21 (JTA) — Israel has lifted the freeze on foreign-made ice cream as a result of a court ruling that cancels the 55-cent tax per kilogram on importing the sweet stuff. The Jerusalem court decision came in response to a request from the Israeli importer of Haagen-Dazs and ends a two-year legal battle. In its ruling against the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the court also ordered local ice cream-makers Tnuva and Strauss to pay the legal expenses — more than $15,000 — of its foreign competitor. In her ruling, Judge Judith Zur reportedly said, “It seems that the fact that the import is of especially high quality ice cream is in fact a positive incentive to encourage the quality of local manufacturers’ ice cream.”