By Anadolu Staff
PARIS, France (AA) - Activists from the Palestine Emergency collective urged an economic boycott of Carrefour on Saturday, accusing the company of supporting Israel.
The collective accused the French company of supporting Israel, violating international law and opening stores in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Protestors in the Quartz mall in Villeneuve wanted to make consumers aware, by distributing flyers, of the reality that Carrefour was offering food packages to soldiers engaged in bombing while Palestinians suffer starvation.
They want to force a cease-fire and remember the more than 36.000 Palestinian victims of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.
With slogans such as “Israel Criminal, Carrefour accomplice,” activists wanted to highlight the complicity of the company in the mass distribution sector and its CEO Alexandre Bompard, in the face of the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
A Jewish couple intervened during the protest and asked security guards in front of the store to call police.
“My daughter is still in Israel, and you are here defending Palestinians. It is your friends who are killing us, they rained missiles on Tel Aviv every day,” the Jewish man shouted at an activist.
“He wanted to attack me saying that women were raped and children beheaded on Oct. 7, while his wife took a picture of me and threatened to post it on social media,” the activist told Anadolu.
A member of the collective dropped hundreds of flyers over the mall that demanded an immediate cease-fire and encouraged shoppers to boycott Carrefour.
Since the Israeli branch of Carrefour announced in October that it would provide food rations to Israeli soldiers, the company has been the subject of massive calls to boycott its stores.
In an X post on Oct. 21, BDS France (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) urged a “boycott of companies Israeli and international accomplices” of Israel. Carrefour was among those cited.
BDS France criticizes Carrefour for having “sent personal packages to Israeli soldiers.”
The French company was also criticized when it concluded a partnership with the Israeli company Electra Consumer Products and its subsidiary Yenot Bitan in 2022 -- both involved in serious violations against Palestinians, according to BDS.