Malaysians now boycotting Family Mart due to links with Israeli company

SHAH ALAM - Malaysians are now boycotting Japan's convenience store chain Family Mart after finding out that it had alleged links to Israel.

Consumers seemed to have made a connection between Family Mart and Itochu Corp’s aviation unit Itochu Aviation which has a strategic cooperation with Israeli defence company Elbit Systems Ltd.

Social media users have been sharing posts about people in other countries who were also boycotting Family Mart in their respective countries due to Israel’s relentless attacks on the Palestinians in Gaza since Oct 7, last year.

In their postings on Instagram, there shared photos of people holding up placards of Itochu’s logo accompanied by the words ’Stop Genocide’ and ‘Ceasefire Now’

A social media user wrote: "I no longer have the desire to buy any Family Mart products anymore. It is really unfortunate they (Family Mart) picked the wrong side of investment. Just buy the local products and make sure they aren't supporting Israel at all, guys."

Another user wrote "Goodbye Family Mart, we stand with Palestine."

In response to this, Family Mart Malaysia in a statement said it was informed by FamilyMart Co., Ltd Japan today (Feb 5) that Itochu Aviation was terminating the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Elbit, as per news reports in Japan.

The decision, it said was made in support of the Japanese government’s support of the recent International Court of Justice order, which included preventing acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

"FamilyMart Malaysia is franchised from FamilyMart Co., Ltd Japan and we reiterate our stand that we do not support violence or killing.

"FamilyMart Malaysia does not contribute to or donate to or deal with Israel," it said in a statement, today.