Spanish fashion giant Zara is facing calls for a boycott from Palestinian citizens of Israel, after the company’s franchisor for its Israeli stores hosted far-right leader Itamar Ben Gvir at an campaign event.
This comes from the franchisor of the Spanish company, despite Ben Gvir’s extremist positions, his explicit call to kill and displace Palestinians, and his repeated leadership of settlers’ incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the neighborhoods of Jerusalemites under the protection of the occupation forces.
The owner of the international Zara franchise in Israel, Canadian billionaire Joey Schwebel – hosted a party on Thursday, October 20, in his villa to support Ben Gvir in the elections.
Ben Gvir heads the ultra-nationalist Otzma Yehudit party, which is running in the November 1 elections with the Religious Zionism party, and is expected to win up to 12 seats.
Burning clothes
The videos spread across the platforms of dozens of Palestinians in the 48 lands burning clothes they bought from Zara stores previously, calling on Palestinians, Arabs and other supporters of the Palestinian cause to boycott the company’s merchandise.
Mayor Rahat Fayez Abu Suhaiban was among those who joined the protest, calling Zara a “fascist” because of Schwebel’s support for Ben Gvir.
“Our position must be clear regarding such stores that support the outbreak,” he said.
Palestinian-Israeli politician Ahmad Tibi, who clashed several times with Ben Gvir in the Knesset chamber, took to Twitter to describe Zara’s “ugliness.”
Ben Gvir responded to the tweet, “Zara, beautiful clothes, beautiful Israelis.”
Legal Fatwa
The most recent step was the issuance of a fatwa by the Chief Justice of Palestine, Mahmoud al-Habbash, prohibiting dealing with Zara, calling for a boycott of it and taking similar positions in the countries of the Islamic world.
In this context, the Palestinian community in the United States participated in the campaign against the company—Zara, through social platforms, and demanded the members of the community, Palestinians and Arabs residing in the United States, to boycott the company’s merchandise.
This is not the first time that this company supports the occupation, as one of its designers made anti-Palestinian statements last year.
