Carrefour exits Bahrain and Kuwait after boycott pressure, BDS says

The Palestinian National Committee for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement said Monday that French retail giant Carrefour has fully withdrawn from Bahrain and Kuwait under pressure from sustained boycott campaigns.

According to a BDS statement, Carrefour operations in both countries—run by the Emirati Majid Al Futtaim Group—were shut down after suffering “heavy financial losses” and reputational damage linked to the company’s complicity in Israeli actions against Palestinians.

The global boycott campaign against Carrefour was launched in December 2022, after revelations that Carrefour Israel had provided food baskets and gift packages to Israeli soldiers and organized fundraising drives on their behalf. The group also accused the chain of forging partnerships with Israeli banks and tech companies implicated in human rights violations.

The #LetsBoycottCarrefour campaign has since expanded across the Arab world and beyond, with protests, petitions, public pledges, cultural initiatives, and online mobilization. Despite restrictions in some countries, the movement said grassroots actions have intensified.

The BDS statement also cited financial data, saying Carrefour Group’s net profits fell by 50 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023, while Majid Al Futtaim reported a 47 per cent drop in retail profits due to declining consumer confidence in markets such as Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the UAE.