What is boycotting? A boycott is when someone refuses to buy from specific companies or certain goods as a punishment or a protest against them for a war or as another form of social protest. And the main question is why are more people now starting to boycott and why has it become such a big issue?

Israel’s government has stood since 1948, and Palestine was recognized as a state by 1988, while the land before has sat for hundreds of years. The conflict between Jewish people and Palestinians has long roots. Palestine wasn’t officially Palestine yet, but parts of it were like the Gaza strip, and West bank including East Jerusalem, in which Israel has been trying to take that land. As it all continued for those years, it was eventually called the Arab-Israeli war. The conflict’s origins seem to have advanced more due to a break out of five Arab nations invading what the Palestinian territory was and that continued from 1948 when Israel became its own state, to May 14th of 1949 when the state of Israel declared an announcement of independence. Ever since, a debate of who’s rightful owner of the land between the two had never been solved in a satisfactory way since. 

As of last year, the issue has become a huge advancement to the whole war due to Hamas in Palestine deciding to finally fight back by using explosive devices, rockets, forearms and even kidnapping operations against the Israeli army, due to the fact that Israel had really cracked down on Palestine with the war. And this all ties back to the boycotting because Israel is not giving Palestine any peace, and people have decided to start boycotting many large companies or even just the companies CEOs that will support or donate to Israel or even just take place in Israel territory. According to Al Jazeera, at least 33,482 Palestinians have been killed, 70% of them being women and children, and 76,049 have been wounded according. (https://www.aljazeera.com/)

 If you’re someone who wants to know the companies dealing with the boycott, those companies are; KFC, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Kit Kat, Burger King, Häagen-Dazs, Costa Coffee, Aroma, Subway, Nestle, Walmart, Hardees, Mars, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Minute Maid, Fanta, Carnation, Smarties, Nerds, Laffy Taffy, SweeTarts, Alpo, Lipton, Tropicana, Dasani, Perrier, Sprite, Twix, Nike, Adidas, Puma, L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, HP, American Eagle, The Body Shop, Tommy Hilfiger, Lancôme, Ralph Lauren, Johnson and Johnson, Chanel, Kylie Cosmetics, Garnier, Olay, Clinique, Urban Decay, Neutrogena, LifeBuoy, Wix, Motorola, Nido, Giorgio Armani, Victoria Secret, Maybelline, NYX, Revlon, Siemens, Skims, Goop, Marks & Spencer, Smartwater, Aveda, Tom Ford, Covergirl, Nesquik, Papa Johns, MAC, The Ordinary, Disney, Bobbi Brown, Honest, Sabra, Nokia, Nido, Walls, Tom Ford Beauty, Summer Fridays, Soda Stream, Ahava, Keter, Strauss, Danone, Tivall, AXA, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Airbnb, TripAdviser.

Bigger companies like Starbucks and even McDonald’s  have also been facing lots of protests in many different states, even countries from the Palestine supporters and even Palestinians themselves. A senior here at Doherty High School, who’s boycotting, Kimber Cook, stated, “It’s easy to just buy from smaller businesses. It’s easy to just not buy McDonald’s or Starbucks everyday and instead go to a local coffee shop or different businesses to get a quick bite.”

For people who are boycotting, this can be absolutely true: McDonald’s and Starbucks are both expensive and you see a lot of people who don’t even have the money for either just going because of a craving. When you could go to a small business around and buy from them. Which usually has more natural and healthy ingredients AND are always more affordable. Not only does it help the businesses, it helps the people in Palestine.

That’s if you’re wanting to boycott. This article can be a helpful guide if you’re choosing to do so! If not, I’m glad to have educated you.