‘We are in McDonald’s but your son is refusing the food’: How Irish households are boycotting Israeli products

by TeoKajLibroj

22 comments

  1. *This opened a conversation in his son’s primary school on the topic.

    “Some children in his class were picking on him about it. But I was pretty proud of him,” he says.

    “He was very principled about it and he ended up talking in front of his class about Palestine and everything, and how McDonald’s was providing free food to Israeli soldiers invading Gaza.”*

    There is a time and place to discuss BDS to be sure, and I acknowledge this is how a parent has opted to raise their child. But do we need to burden our kids with discussions of Gaza, Israel, BDS, etc? And then to have the teacher facilitate the kid getting up speaking about something like this?

  3. “I said: ‘Oh, my God, it is just that as a family we boycott McDonald’s.’ But I said, if you are paying for it, I am not going to be mad with him or whatever.”

    A very odd conversation over a kids birthday party.

  4. McDonald’s is terrible anyway, I’d rather have fresh food that hasn’t been frozen than the microwave piss they serve

  6. If I were hosting a drop-off birthday party I would let the parents know what the plans were – like X movie at the cinema and food at X after. Or if I were leaving my children with someone else for a party, I’d want to know what the general plan is.

    So going to McDonald’s being a surprise is a bit 🤨 on the host and guest. They all put themselves in a tricky spot, and I don’t think it should have been the child’s responsibility to have to uphold their family’s boycott.

  7. People only boycott what’s convenient. Ask them to boycott their child labour phones or cocaine industry and all of a sudden they’ve lost their concern.

  8. The McDonald’s thing is so dumb. I hate these milquetoast talking points that people barely understand but just drop on others like some big moral superiority thing.

    McDonald’s in israel was privately owned by a local Israeli group. Post the backlash, McDonald’s corporate bought back the franchise in order to contain the fall out.

    That’s all, nobody cared about the millions of aid that was sent by also independently owned McDonald’s franchises in other parts of the Middle East to Gaza. No you just get these mid IQ “I can’t eat a hamburger in there because it supports genocide”

    Like this stuff is bizarre

  9. Good on the kid for refusing to eat the food, and good on the dad for saying that as long as he’s not paying for it, the kid can have it. Very reasonable 

  10. It’s not easy given up a lot of things but I’m still really trying by supporting local businesses, buying cheaper brands, buying second-hand computers, checking out entertainment and other media from companies that have nothing to do with Israel. I use the Boycat app to scan barcodes whenever I can.

  11. That McDonald story only points to absolute gobshites of parents warping their kids mind like that at a birthday party makes a difference. Jesus wept let kids have their fun, it’s hard enough at times fit in and save your virtue signalling for your own parties …..🤬

  12. He should be refusing on the grounds of animal cruelty but that’s another story I guess.

  13. Teva acquired Sudocrem years ago. Theysaid they wanted to move production from Ireland to Bulgaria by 2023. Don’t know whether they did, but that’s reason enough to find alternatives for their products.

  14. Is it just me or does every McDonald’s sound like a hospital ward. Alarms are constantly going off in the kitchen area..

  15. >Fast-food giant McDonald’s faced a boycott after the BDS movement maintained in 2023 that the company was “complicit with Israeli atrocities” after a franchisee’s decision to offer discounts and free meals to soldiers. Last year the main McDonald’s company said it would take over the ownership of branches in Israel.

    >Meaney says his young family in the past loved going to McDonald’s, but had not been there in some time.

    This is such a tenuous link.

  19. My son refuses to buy buy iron dome interceptors for this missle defense system, I’m so proud

  21. This headline is a bit dramatic.

    BDS has been going on for ages and yes it’s definitely coming more to the forefront of our lives.

    I won’t speak for a lot of the trade offs in people’s day to say experiences but in the case of Teva generic medications they’re rarely the frontrunner in the dispensed generics.

    If you are dispensed Teva (check before you leave the pharmacy) I would guarantee they have an equally priced generic available.

    You can ask for a note on your account to not dispense Teva.

  22. Performative virtue signaling of the highest order. The McDonald’s boycott was always stupid. All McDonald’s in Israel were franchised and the franchisee was giving free food to IDF soldiers so people construed this to mean all McDonald’s franchisees and the corporation support the IDF and Israel. McDonald’s corporation even bought all the Israeli McDonald’s to end the practice and to take the heat off their brand

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