BDS Global Calls For McDonald’s Boycott After Legal Action Against Malaysian Chapter

The boycott will go on until McDonald’s Corporation terminates its agreement with the Israeli franchisee for supporting genocide, and Malaysian franchisee for bullying solidarity activists.

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The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) has called for a worldwide boycott campaign against McDonald’s aimed at forcing the fast food company to “end complicity in Israel’s crimes of apartheid”.

This statement comes after McDonald’s Malaysia initiated legal action against BDS Malaysia for allegedly disparaging their business.

The BNC is the largest Palestinian coalition that leads the global BDS movement.

Labelling the lawsuit as an act of bully and intimidation, BNC stressed that BDS Malaysia did not launch a boycott campaign against McDonald’s Malaysia.

The fresh call for boycott also encompasses McDonald’s Israeli franchisee providing free meals to Israeli occupation forces during the ongoing war in Gaza.

“Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, parent and holding companies can be held liable for failing their due diligence duty in cases when their subsidiaries, franchisees, or any other suppliers within their value chain are implicated in grave human rights abuses and violations of international law,” BNC said.

It added that the actions of a McDonald’s franchisee cannot be isolated from the company’s worldwide operations.

BNC remarked that the McDonald’s Corporation in the United States owns the McDonald’s brand and is responsible for ensuring that its franchisee is not involved in conduct that damages the corporation’s reputation, including any association of the brand with grave human rights violations.

“Putting it simply, associating the McDonald’s brand with the Israeli army and its crimes against the Palestinian people cannot go without consequences for the company,” BNC said.

The new call for boycott has two demands for the McDonald’s Corporation: to terminate its agreement with its Israeli franchisee over its support for Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide; and to terminate its agreement with its Malaysian franchisee, unless it drops its frivolous lawsuit against BDS Malaysia and apologises for smearing the group and its leaders.

Once this announcement made its way to social media platforms, many people jumped on the bandwagon, showing their support.