Calls to boycott the Pizza Hut restaurant chain, owned by the American company Yum Brands, were renewed after the Israeli restaurant account on the Instagram platform re-published the story of two soldiers from the Israeli occupation army carrying a number of pizza boxes bearing its brand, which was widely shared, according to Newsweek magazine. American.
Israeli soldiers expressing gratitude to Pizza Hut franchises in Israel for providing free meals to military bases. pic.twitter.com/kTYp1I7hNW
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 19, 2024
‘Proud to help’
Brands have faced boycotts around the world because of their support for Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, including McDonald’s and Starbucks.
The Palestinian Quds News Network re-published another photo from the “Pizza Hut Israel” account on Instagram, via the “X” website; It shows an Israeli soldier resting his arm on a pile of Pizza Hut boxes, and carrying a rifle in the other arm. The picture says: “For the love of Israel.”
The network indicated that the pizza was free and was delivered to Israeli military bases.
reaction
As Newsweek monitored, these posts caused a major reaction online from Palestinian supporters, who pledged to stop buying from the American restaurant chain, and urged others to do so, as academic Tim Anderson said on the X website: “Okay, guys, this is a form of… “Pizza Hut, which fuels a genocidal regime, you know what to do.”
An account bearing the name Rania called for a boycott of the famous chain, and wrote: “More garbage to boycott! The newest flavor of Pizza Hut is genocide!”
The number of times the hashtag “Boycott Pizza Hut” was used exceeded 136,000 times on the X website alone.
On the other hand, Israel’s supporters expressed their approval of the restaurant chain’s move. Eli quoted the Jerusalem Network’s post, commenting: “Good for Pizza Hut,” while other users mocked the move, with Yuri Kurlyanchik saying: “You don’t understand! This is all a secret plan to make Israeli soldiers so fat that they can’t fight in Gaza!” Pizza She’s actually trying to help you!”
It is noteworthy that Starbucks issued a statement in December, following the acts of vandalism that occurred against a number of its branches in North America, in which its CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, said, without explicitly referring to the war on Gaza: “Cities around the world witnessed – “Including here in North America – protests are escalating. Many of our stores have witnessed incidents of vandalism. We see protesters influenced by social media’s misrepresentation of what we stand for. Our position is clear. We stand for humanity.”
McDonald’s confession
In this context, McDonald’s CEO, Chris Kempinski, said this month that a number of markets in the Middle East, and others outside the region, are witnessing a “tangible impact on business.” Because of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, in addition to what he described as “misleading information” about the brand.
Kempinski said misinformation about brands such as McDonald’s was “frustrating and baseless.”
McDonald’s Israel said last October on its social media accounts that it had provided thousands of free meals to members of the Israeli army.