Harun Nasrullah

Last month, Palestinian rights activists led a demonstration through the streets of Manchester and into the stores of the British coffee and sandwich chain Pret A-Manger in protest against plans to open 40 stores in Israel.

The chain entered into a non-binding agreement with the Israeli fashion store chain Fox-Wizel and restaurant group operator Yarzin Sella to establish and operate the coffee shops in Israel. As part of the agreement, a company for the franchise will be set up, in which Fox will hold 75 percent and Sella 25 percent.

The 10-year franchise is conditional on Fox and Sella opening at least 40 Pret A Manger branches over the next decade.

The demonstration took place on February 23, the day Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians in a raid on Nablus, injuring over 100 people.

Supported by Manchester Palestine Action and the Manchester PSC, the University of Manchester Friends of Palestine, and the Youth Front for Palestine, activists marched into the Pret-A-Manger with flags and a banner that read, “Pret A Manger, Don’t Serve Israeli Apartheid,” and made powerful speeches to the workers and customers inside. They chanted, “Pret, Pret, Pret a Manger, how many Palestinians are killed today?”

The shop is popular with students, and many spoke inside, calling on people to boycott Pret. They highlighted the contradictions of investing in  a state like Israel while still claiming to be socially responsible.

As one speaker said, “Nobody wakes up and says, “You know what, I feel like financing oppression today.’ So why do we allow Pret to play us like that? Because that’s what they’re forcing normal workers and normal customers to do. That’s what they’re forcing you guys to be complicit in. They’re making us all murderers. We can’t let one company play us like this.”

In January, Friends of Al-Aqsa launched the #PretAPartheid campaign, with Pret’s social media platforms being inundated with messages of protest, with hundreds emailing Pret CEO Pano Christou.

The #PretAPartheid campaign urges consumers to take a firm stand against Pret’s “disregard for Palestinian human rights.”

The campaign also points out that on its website, the company claims to serve fresh food and coffee while ‘trying to do the right thing’. But “opening branches in an apartheid state is doing the wrong thing,” reads the campaign letter to Pano Christou.

It is hoped that Pret will follow in the footsteps of ice cream giant Ben & Jerry’s, which in 2021 halted the sale of its products in the occupied West Bank, citing that Israel’s illegal occupation and “apartheid regime” were

“inconsistent” with the company’s values. “By opening stores in Israel, Pret would be complicit in Israeli human rights abuses,” says Shamiul Joarder, Head of Public Affairs at FOA.

“A-Pret claims that being ethical is one of its ‘core values,’ but supporting a state that repeatedly violates international law and targets and kills children isn’t ethical.”

On every sandwich, Pret has a sticker asking for feedback. “Hundreds of people have now given them feedback and asked them not to support apartheid—where is their response?”

International organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN Special Rapporteurs, and others have stated that Israel is practising apartheid policies.The organisation Friends of Al Aqsa is calling on people to pressure Pret before confirmation of the deal to build 40 stores in Israel is due in March 2023.

The Muslim News has reached out to Pret-A-Manger for comment but has not received a reply.

(Photo credit: WikiCommons)