The Hamas terrorist group attacked Israel in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 10. Over one thousand Israelis died in the attack and in response, Israel declared war on Hamas.
That declaration sparked aerial bombardments and ground operations in Gaza from Israel. The bombing campaign started in northern Gaza and has gradually moved south.
Bombs have destroyed neighborhoods, hospitals, refugee camps, restaurants and businesses. Israel has also limited the amount of relief efforts being sent into Gaza. The bombings were first justified by Israel as targeting places having affiliations to Hamas, but that has since been debunked.
The war has killed over 26,000 civilian Palestinians and left another 62,000 people wounded. It has also left 1.9 million Gazans displaced.
Many nations have called for an immediate ceasefire, but Israel says it has the right to defend itself and will not stop.
People around the world have begun standing behind Palestinians, boycotting businesses that are in some way supporting Israel.
One company that has been struggling is Starbucks. Most Greeley Starbucks locations are experiencing some of the effects, but not all.
“I didn’t see a huge change in the amount of people coming through,” said B Cronk, a former Starbucks employee. “In fact, I think we got even busier during that time, but more so the boycotts affected I think came from the amount of promotions Starbucks was pushing.”
Starbucks has lost over $11 billion in market value since the start of the boycotts, but it remains unclear if the boycotts had anything to do with it.
“I saw very frequently that people and other baristas being astounded at the amount of promotions that were going on,” Cronk said. “There was a calendar for January that I saw that was like every other day was something that brings in way more people than you would expect. I think they really tried to counteract that, and it affected us.”
With no end in sight to the war, people have started boycotts on other major companies such as McDonald’s, Netflix, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Disney, who are also supporting Israel.
To find the full list of boycotts, go to bdsmovement.net.
