McDonald’s: Behind the Fast-Food Firm’s Boycott Controversy
The sudden decision by McDonald’s to take over ownership of its branches in Israel has thrust the franchise company Alonyal and its chief executive, Omri Padan, into the spotlight.
McDonald’s will buy back all of its Israeli restaurants after global sales slumped due to a boycott of the brand over its perceived support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The fast-food giant uses a franchise system, which means that individual operators are licenced to run outlets and employ staff. But the broader company came in for criticism after Mr. Padan offered free meals to Israeli forces around the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
A boycott was sparked after Muslim-majority countries such as Kuwait, Malaysia and Pakistan issued statements distancing themselves from the firm for what they saw as support of Israel.
Mr Padan, however, is not new to controversy related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the 30 years the businessman has been operating restaurants for McDonald’s in Israel, he has been at the centre of a number of disputes.
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In 2013, the Israeli businessman angered Israel’s settler movement when he refused calls to open a branch of the fast-food chain in the settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank. Mr. Padan’s company, Alonyal, was asked to set up a restaurant in a shopping centre but declined, saying the firm had a policy of staying out of the occupied territories.
At the time, the firm said the decision had not been coordinated with McDonald’s headquarters in the US.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem—land the Palestinians want as part of a future state—in the 1967 Middle East war.
The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
Mr. Padan is one of the founders of the group Peace Now, which opposes all settlements and views them as obstacles to peace.
