McDonald's Is Buying Back Its Franchises In Israel After People Started Boycotting It For Supporting Israel’s War On Gaza
After Israel declared war on Hamas in October, the Israeli company operating McDonald’s in Israel announced it was donating free meals to the Israeli military, sparking global protests and boycotts.
McDonald's is buying back its franchises in Israel after people started boycotting it for supporting Israel’s war on Gaza.
After Israel declared war on Hamas in October, Alonyal, the Israeli company operating McDonald’s in Israel, announced it was donating free meals to the Israeli military.
The decision sparked global protests and boycotts.
And franchise owners in the Middle East and several Muslim-majority countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, tried to publicly separate themselves.
McDonald’s Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Oman also announced they would donate millions of dollars to support Palestinians in Gaza.
Although McDonald's is a global corporation, many of its outlets are locally owned and operated independently by franchisees.
In January, McDonald's CEO said due to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, its business was being “meaningfully impacted” in several Middle Eastern markets, as well as other regions.
As a result, McDonald's failed to meet its quarterly sales target for the first time in almost four years at the end of 2023.
McDonald’s CEO added that as long as the war is going on, the company was not expecting to see any significant improvement in the sales.
On Friday, April 5, McDonald’s announced that it will buy its Israeli stores back from Alonyal Limited.
This means McDonald's will directly operate its 225 stores in Israel while retaining the existing employees.
McDonald’s has said that it “remains committed to the Israeli market and to ensuring a positive employee and customer experience in the market going forward”.
People around the world are also boycotting other international brands including Coca-Cola and Starbucks which have been supporting and benefiting from Israel’s war on Gaza.
