McDonald’s turns down offer to open restaurant in West Bank settlement

Noam Sheizaf By Noam Sheizaf June 26, 2013 | Edit
McDonald's turns down offer to open restaurant in West Bank settlement
McDonald’s turned down an offer to open up a restaurant in a West Bank settlement. (Illustrative photo: Shutterstock.com)

The Israeli financial daily Calcalist reported this morning (Wednesday) that McDonald’s has turned down an offer to open a restaurant in the settlement of Ariel, beyond the Green Line. The local contractor for McDonald’s in Israel is Omri Padan, one of the founders of Peace Now. McDonald’s-Israel has confirmed the report in Calcalist.

A representative of the company, who is in charge of marketing shops for the new mall in Ariel admitted that some other chains will also be absent from the project, despite its relatively low rental fees. According to Tzachi Nachmias, several companies who deal with Europe or hold franchises in international brands fear that operating in the occupied territories will hurt their business.

Knesset Member Ayelet Shaked of the Jewish Home party (and founder of the right-wing internet network “MyIsrael”) announced this morning that she will boycott McDonald’s in response to the decision.

Noam Sheizaf

Noam Sheizaf is an independent journalist and editor. He was the founding executive director and editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine. Prior to joining +972, he worked for Tel Aviv’s Ha-ir local paper, Ynet, and the Maariv daily, where his last position was deputy editor of the weekend magazine. He is currently working on a number of documentary films.

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