A painful boycott is still essential, despite the ceasefire in Gaza

The campaign to boycott international companies that support Israel is ongoing, despite the ceasefire in Gaza. A boycott is painful and worries such companies, including Starbucks, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s and Carrefour.

The campaign also covers a boycott of Israeli goods around the world. A recent report by the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index (NBI), published by Israeli newspapers and websites, including Globes, indicated that Israeli exports are now in great danger due to the widespread global rejection of goods labelled “Made in Israel”. Discerning consumers and markets are, it seems, avoiding Israeli products.

This week, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol acknowledged the impact of the boycott on the company’s profits and revenues around the world in a rare event during his visit to the UAE a few days ago. He urged an end to the boycott of the company, which has grown more determined during the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.

He added that the negative impact of the boycott was not limited to the MENA region; it also affected Starbucks’ sales in the US.

The Starbucks CEO did not stop there. He tried to distance his company from the allegation that it supports the occupation army, and denied categorically that it supported for Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. “The boycott and the whole information cycle. It is really unfortunate because obviously, it hurts the brand, and it hurts our partners in the stores,” Niccol told Bloomberg. “You know we have never supported any military.” He claimed that the company has not provided any funding to the Israeli government.

READ: Report: 550 ex-Israel army officers warn against resuming Gaza war

In Turkiye, the boycott has had a major success, with KFC and Pizza Hut closing their doors after facing a severe financial crisis due to a popular boycott by the Turkish people. The parent company Yum! Brands, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, announced the termination of the franchise agreement with the IS Gida company, the local restaurant operator in Turkiye, leading to the closure of 537 branches. The Turkish company declared itself bankrupt with debts exceeding 7.7 billion Turkish liras (about $214 million).

Moreover, the Carrefour supermarket chain has closed its doors in two Arab countries, Jordan and Oman, and decided to reduce its activities in other Arab countries after facing a fierce popular campaign due to its support for the occupation army. The French chain has failed to convince customers to return to its stores.

Given the ongoing boycott of its products and branches due to its support for the Israeli genocidal crimes against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Americana Restaurants company announced a few days ago that its profits fell by 39 per cent in 2024.

This decline exposes the predicament that major brands supporting the occupation are facing.

Americana Restaurants is the largest restaurant operator in the Middle East and North Africa region, operating Hardee’s, Krispy Kreme and TGI Friday’s brands, among others.

Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing campaigns to increase the demand for their soft drinks in Muslim-majority countries, major beverage companies, including Pepsi and Coca-Cola, are still being boycotted in many places, especially with the success of locally-made drinks that replaced them during the 15-month war on Gaza.

In Europe, campaigns to boycott companies and brands that support the occupation are continuing, given the ongoing war against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and in light of the existence of alternative drinks such as Gaza Cola and Palestine Cola.

And this is the point. There may be a ceasefire in Gaza, but tens of thousands of Palestinians are being displaced by Israeli troops in the West Bank, and hundreds have been killed. The boycotts must continue until the occupation ends. Nothing less is acceptable.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on 16 February 2025.

OPINION: The Gaza genocide and the unravelling of US hegemony

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.