Fordham SJP urges students to boycott McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Sweetgreen for supporting Israel

The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Fordham University in New York City posted a call for a boycott against multiple companies that it claims are supporting “genocide.” 

In a June 2 Instagram post, the group called for students to engage in an “organic boycott” of Birch Coffee, McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, and Sweetgreen.

An “organic boycott,” according to the group, is “not initiated by the [Boycott, Divest, Sanctions] movement, but is supported as a result of their complicity, denial, or direct support either financially or socially for Israel.”  

[RELATED: Rutgers SJP ‘boycotts’ disciplinary measures]

“Even [without] investments, conducting business in occupied territories, profiting off of the settler colonial project, or complicity in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians qualifies a company as the target of an organic boycott,” the group says.

The chapter claims that the various companies highlighted in the post deserve to be boycotted for their support for or connections to the Jewish State.

The SJP claimed that Birch Coffee has “publically [sic] condemned [the] actions of [a] pro-Palestinian employee on social media.” It also added: “CEO/Owner Jeremy Lyman released a statement on social media distancing himself from past employee and protestor for Palestine.” 

The anti-Israel students condemned McDonald’s for “providing free meals to the IOF” [“Israel Occupation Forces”--a derogatory term for the Israeli military used by anti-Israel activists], and for owning “224+ locations on stolen land profiting from genocide and settler colonialism,” referring to McDonald’s stores located in Israeli territory. 

Domino’s Pizza and Pizza Hut faced the group’s wrath for having “publically [sic] expressed support for Israel” and for providing meals to Israeli soldiers. 

[RELATED: Sonoma State University president makes boycott deal with protesters, gets put on leave]

As for Sweetgreen, the SJP condemned the salad restaurant chain because the CEO “publically [sic] [expressed] his support of the genocide, Israel, & Zionism on Twitter.” The SJP provided an apparent picture of a social media post from Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman in which he condemned Hamas as “terrorists and rapists” the day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, and another picture of a post in which he called himself a “mega Zionist.” 

The SJP offered “alternatives” to the businesses they wish to boycott, including “Ayat,” a “Palestinian owned and operated [restaurant] serving traditional Palestinian food.” 

Campus Reform has contacted Fordham University and Fordham SJP for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.