The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, has called for the government to disqualify the McDonald’s fast-food chain in Israel from bidding on a tender to build a restaurant at Ben Gurion International Airport, due to the chain’s refusal to open any branches in Judea and Samaria.
Dagan contends McDonald’s is carrying out an unspoken boycott against Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, in violation of the country’s anti-boycott laws.
בהמשך לחשיפת ו . שלטים שנתלו הבוקר בסניפי מקדונלדס בתא. pic.twitter.com/RUcPhxsx3E
— Elisha Ben Kimon (@elishabenkimon)
Writing to Israel’s finance and transportation ministers about the issue, Dagan said, “In the past few days, I have learned about McDonald’s intention to compete in the Israel Airport Authority tender to open restaurants at Ben Gurion Airport.
“As you know, McDonald’s Israel, headed by Omri Padan, blatantly boycotts the citizens and territories of the State of Israel beyond the Green Line,” he wrote.
“This blatant boycott was not created casually, but officially and openly, as Omri Padan emphasized in 2013 when he vehemently refused to open a branch of the chain in Ariel.
“The law to prevent harm to the State of Israel via a boycott is clear and unequivocal regarding any public call for a cultural, academic or economic boycott of any person solely due to a connection to the State of Israel,” he wrote.
Padan was among the founding members of the far-left Peace Now organization which calls for the complete evacuation of Israelis from Judea and Samaria.
McDonald’s Israel said in a response to Ynet that global McDonald’s headquarters did not approval branches in [Judea and Samaria.]
The Transportation and Finance Ministries both told Ynet the decision is not up to them, inasmuch as the commercial tenders at Ben Gurion Airport does not fall within their purview.
