Consumers are critiquing McDonald’s after a Reddit user shared that McDonald’s Israel was allegedly donating free meals to the Israel Defense Forces. This comes as Israel’s military forces said it had given 24 hour notice for people to relocate from northern Gaza, an ask the United Nations has said could come with “devastating humanitarian consequences,” according to CNN.
About a day ago, Reddit user u/Remarkable-Ganache-8 posted a screenshot from McDonald’s Israel Instagram showing men carrying what is presumed to be multiple bags of food. As of Friday evening, McDonald’s Israel had set its Instagram account to private. u/Remarkable-Ganache-8’s post received more than 280 upvotes.
According to McDonald’s Israel website, and based on translated text from Google Translate, the restaurant chain has provided a 50% discount to Israeli security and rescue forces.
“Our hearts go out to the families of the murdered, the heroic martyrs who fell in battle, the security forces, the wounded, the kidnapped and the missing,” the restaurant wrote on its website.
McDonald’s dabbling into the Israel-Hamas war did not seem to sit well with some Reddit users.
“Time for a boycott,” one person wrote. “[As] if their processed garbage food wasn’t enough of a reason to stop eating there.”
“I’d boycott them for this except I never eat there anyway,” another person said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to u/Remarkable-Ganache-8 for comment via Reddit direct message.
Recently, companies and brands have waded into giving their stance on the ongoing conflict, with some accusing brands of conflating Hamas and Palestinians.
Starbucks recently made a statement distancing itself from comments made by its union on the conflict after the group posted “Solidarity with Palestine” on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, CNN reported. The Washington Post reported that people who have made online posts criticizing Israel have faced backlash and fierce discipline such as losing their jobs. There have also been reports that some students at Harvard University were doxed after signing a letter that said Israel was responsible for the ongoing violence. Big names speaking out in support of Israel have included NBA teams—like the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76s—and celebrities like Justin Bieber and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Spain’s top diplomat has argued that Hamas should not be confused with all Palestinians, according to Al Jazeera. Spain has come out against the proposed suspension of European Union aid to Palestinian territories. The European Commission disputed the claims, saying it was only reviewing aid to those territories.
