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Malaysia
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Malaysian boycotters hail win as FamilyMart says it does ‘not deal with Israel’

  • FamilyMart’s parent company says it has ended a deal with Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems, adding it is against ‘supporting violence or killing’
  • F&B companies such as McDonald’s and Starbucks have seen their business nosedive in Malaysia amid the anti-Israel consumer boycott

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A woman holds a placard during a ‘Free Palestine’ rally near the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur on December 22, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE
Hadi Azmi

Malaysians boycotting Israel-affiliated firms have hailed another victory in their vote-with-their-feet campaign, after forcing the Japanese parent company of FamilyMart to end an agreement with an Israeli defence firm over fears of a damaging backlash in Muslim markets.

The bottom lines of McDonald’s and Starbucks in Malaysia – as well as in Indonesia – have already been hollowed out by boycotts over assumed links to Israel, whose military campaign in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza has killed over 27,000 people, half of them children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Malaysians began broadcasting calls to boycott FamilyMart after details emerged of a deal between Itochu Aviation, a subsidiary of Itochu Corporation which owns the convenience store chain, and Israeli defence company Elbit Systems Ltd.

Itochu took full ownership of FamilyMart in July 2020.

In a statement late Monday, FamilyMart Malaysia moved to head off the snowballing boycott calls, explaining the termination of the agreement between its parent company and the Israeli firm and reiterating its stance against “supporting violence or killing”.

“FamilyMart Malaysia does not contribute to, donate to, or deal with Israel,” the company, which has over 277 stores in Malaysia, said in the statement.

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