Is McDonald’s really sending money to Israel?

The recent attack on the Gaza strip was horrific. If you’ve seen pictures in new reports of families being torn apart and the civilians who were needlessly slaughtered by the Israeli military (including over 1,500 children), y’all know how messed up it was.

And within days of the tragedy, we started seeing Malaysians calling for the boycott of McDonald’s on social media platforms in solidarity with Palestine, since there’s the belief that the money you spend in Mekdi gets channeled to Israel. One of our colleagues has even heard his friend say something along the lines of, ‘One french fry is one Israeli bullet’.

Even though we understand the sentiment, is McDonald’s Malaysia really sending money to Israel? Most probably not, because…

McDonald’s Malaysia is 100% Muslim-owned

While untrue, the perception that McDonald’s is owned by Jews and that the fast-food corporation sends money isn’t as silly as it first seems.

You see, the person who was widely credited for turning McDonald’s into a global fast-food giant back in the 1950s, Harry J. Sonneborn, was an American businessman of Jewish descent. It’s not unthinkable for anyone to extrapolate from that piece of info and come to the conclusion that McDonald’s is still owned by Jews today, and the some of the money McDonald’s makes is funneled to Israel.

That’s definitely not case in our country though, as Lionhorn Pte Ltd, a Saudi Arabian company that is under the Saudi Arabian (just to make doubly sure) Reza Group of companies bought McDonald’s Malaysia from the Berjaya Corporation Group for a reported USD$400 million back in 2016. Since then, Lionhorn Pte Ltd, which had been operating McDonald’s successfully in Saudi Arabia, has been running the show both in Malaysia and Singapore.

And sure, McDonald’s Malaysia has to pay royalty fees to McDonald’s USA a.k.a McDonald’s Corporation, but the latter isn’t owned by a Jew. In fact, no single person or company owns McDonald’s Corporation as it’s a publicly listed company in the States, and after taking a brief look at their financial reports, it doesn’t look like they’re funding Israel or the Jewish United Fund.

There’s also the fact that…

Many Malaysians depend on McDonald’s for their livelihood

Just like how some Malaysians are boycotting McDonald’s, there are Americans who are boycotting Palestinian businesses in the States.

Take Ayat, a Palestinian restaurant in the Brooklyn area, for example. Following the Gaza attack, the eatery was flooded with one-star reviews… for basically no reason. It’s unfair that the owner of the restaurant caught metaphorical stray bullets despite the fact that he played no part in the Israel-H*mas conflict.

That’s the problem when people take a stand based fully on sentiment – those review bombers in the U.S. didn’t bother to check whether the restaurant or its owner was connected to the H*mas. Same thing here in Malaysia, people just believe that McDonald’s is owned by Jews, and therefore the money they make goes to Israel.

And that’s not mentioning what McDonald’s Malaysia gives to our country – aside from tens of thousands of job opportunities, they also contribute to:

1. The local economy
2. Various charities (Ronald McDonald House Charities Malaysia)
3. Various communities (Program Komuniti @ McDonald’s and Anugerah Guru Inspirasi McDonald’s)
4. The zakat fund (Mekdi Malaysia paid RM2 million in zakat in 2023 alone)

Still, boycotting anything, even McDonald’s Malaysia, is your right at the end of the day. We just think that this is kinda like when your mom punishing you for something your sibling did.

Here’s a suggestion: why not donate to a charity like Aman Palestin instead of boycotting Mekdi? They don’t have a minimum amount, so you can donate as much as you’re able to, and as far as we can tell, 100% of the money they get goes to Palestine and Palestinians.