Impact of boycott on pro-Israeli businesses

Crescent International

Rajab 10, 1445 2024-01-22

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

American fast-food chain, McDonald’s, and coffee outlet Starbucks have had a taste of the boycott campaign over their support for zionist Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

As soon as Israel launched its barbarous assault on Gaza last October, McDonald’s announced that it was offering free meals to Israeli soldiers.

Its Israeli affiliate said that it had given thousands of free meals to Israeli soldiers carrying out the slaughter of Palestinians.

McDonald’s Israeli franchise also said it was donating meals “to all those who are involved in the defence of the state [of Israel], hospitals, and surrounding areas.”

The announcement enraged supporters of Palestine who launched a boycott of its outlets.

A similar boycott was launched against Starbucks which lost $12 billion in sales within a few weeks.

The boycott campaign against Starbucks was triggered by its condemnation of the Workers United’s statement on X expressing solidarity with Palestine.

Workers United is the union of employees working for Starbucks.

In mid-October, the two entities filed warring lawsuits over the union’s social media post declaring “Solidarity with Palestine!”

While the union has since deleted its post on X, the hashtag #boycottstarbucks is still trending on social media.

According to TikTok’s Creative Center, a database that details user insights, the hashtag has been used some 16,000 times over the past 30 days, generating a combined 167 million views.

McDonald’s global CEO Chris Kempczinski, meanwhile admitted that the Gaza war was having a “meaningful business impact” on the company, without quantifying it.

There are hundreds of McDonald’s and Starbucks outlets throughout the Muslim world.

Muslims who have been for Hajj or Umrah will confirm that as soon as they exit the Haram (al-Masjid al-Haram), they are confronted by the sun-goddess idol figure of Starbucks.

Islam came to wipe out such symbols but the Saudi jahilshave brought them back right to the doorsteps of the two sacred Harams in Makkah and al-Madinah.

It also needs pointing out that McDonald’s burgers and french fries are extremely unhealthy.

Studies have shown that their regular consumption causes high blood pressure, diabetes as well as hypertension.

Not surprisingly, most people in America suffer from obesity because they consume too many greasy McDonald’s burgers.

Obesity also causes more than 300,000 deaths each year, far surpassing deaths from smoking.

The question arises, why do Muslim countries allow such outlets to sell unhealthy food to their citizens that result in major health problems and are a burden on the healthcare system?

Further, the meat that McDonald’s uses in its burgers is not halaal.

What the boycott of McDonald’s and Starbucks in Muslim countries shows is that if Muslims take a united stand, they can cause significant losses to American brands that are backing zionist crimes against the Palestinians.