2023-10-25 17:26:49
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, McDonald’s fast food restaurants have been the subject of a wave of protests in certain Middle Eastern countries.
At issue: an initiative by the company Alonyal Limited, an independent company which manages McDonald’s Israel and which uses the McDonald’s brand under license, which announced on Instagram “that it would offer free meals to Israeli soldiers as well as hospitals”. It would have provided 100,000 as of October 22, for a value of 5 million shekels, according to a post from McDonald’s Israel on X.
In response, McDonald’s franchises in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, and countries in the Persian Gulf and Asia have indicated that they do not support the initiative, and some have even indicated that they will make donations to the people of Gaza, collectively pledging more than three million dollars in aid, according to Al-Jazeera.
“We affirm our humanitarian sympathy for our brothers and sisters in Gaza, and we make no compromise on our commitment to the highest principles and values that thrive in our community,” posted the official account of McDonald’s Oman, for example, which will donate $100,000 to support “relief efforts for the people of Gaza.” “What the licensee in Israel did was an individual and private act, not with the approval or direction of the international company or any other licensee, especially in our Arab world,” he said. he adds.
The American parent company declined to comment, explaining that its priority was the safety of its franchisees and that it offered them its support, adding that it had made a donation of one million dollars which would be divided equally between the Red Cross and the World Food Program to help the inhabitants of the region.
It was also explained in the American media and elsewhere that each franchise made its own decisions, without intervention from the parent company.
But, in the Middle East, the company is widely seen as a symbol of the United States, and therefore an ally of Israel. This month, McDonald’s restaurants were targeted in Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt. Acts of vandalism were noted and calls for boycotts were launched. This was not the first time that McDonald’s was targeted in the region: it had already happened during the second intifada (2000-2005) in Beirut and during the Arab Spring in Cairo.
McDonald’s has around 40,000 restaurants around the world.
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