How the boycott affected Businesses supporting Israel

    The Israli-Palestinian conflict, a protracted and deeply rooted conflict, continues to persist until now. Recently, there has been an ongoing genocidal military campaign against Gaza from Israel, resulting in the death of countless innocent civilians of Palestine. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, between the 7th of October 2023 to now, over twenty three thousands of Palestinians have lost their lives. In respond to this detrimental and alarming situation, there has been a global movement, calling for the boycott of businesses that are profiting from the genocide of the Plaestinian people. This economic boycott of Israel mainly aims to pressurize Israel to adhere to the international laws, and to appease private company's participation in such crimes. 

  The movement to boycott Businesses supporting Israel is mainly derived from the BDS National Committee (BNC) leading the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. This movement aims to hold businesses accountable for their contributions to the Israeli government, whose tax revenues are implicated to maintain the oppression of palestinians. These boycotts seek to disrupt the financial supporters of Israel, as the underlying purpose is that such economic measures will help mitigate Israel’s deleterious actions. Israel is seen to be especially susceptible to these boycotts, as they heavily rely on international trades, leading these initiatives to be potentially impactful in fostering changes to the Palestinian cause. 

   One of the major businesses affected by the repercussions of the boycott is McDonald’s, facing significant financial setbacks across a number of markets in the Middle East. For instance, in Malaysia, a local branch of McDonalds is in the process of pursuing legal actions against a national boycott movement for $1.3 million loss of their profit, claiming that the accusations held against them are “false and defamatory.” In response to the circumstances they faced, Chis Kempczinski, McDonald’s CEO, expressed that “Our hearts remain with the communities and families impacted by the war in the Middle East”

   The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains as a deeply entrenched issue, marked by a recent movement advocating for the economic boycott of businesses profiting from this crisis. These movements are imposing destructive impacts against many large businesses such as McDonalds.