Registry

Does M.H. Alshaya Co. support Israel?

No records found5 sources checked

We have not yet found publicly recorded donations from M.H. Alshaya Co.. Absence of records does not confirm absence of support.

Filed under: Retail & supermarket chains · Coffee chains & brands · Fashion & apparel brands · Companies that support Israel

Background

M.H. Alshaya Co. is a Kuwaiti family-owned retail franchise operator, and no recorded donations, investments, contracts or statements in support of Israel were found for the company, its subsidiaries or the Alshaya family. Alshaya is a licensee, not an owner, of the international brands it runs — Starbucks, H&M, Victoria's Secret, Mothercare, The Cheesecake Factory and others — and it operates them in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and the UAE. It has no stores in Israel, and Starbucks itself has had no presence there since it exited that market in 2003. Holding a Western brand's franchise in the Gulf is not in itself evidence of supporting Israel: a franchisee pays royalties for the right to use a brand in defined territories, and it neither controls the brand owner's politics nor the actions of that brand's licensees in other countries. Alshaya was in fact on the receiving end of the post-October-7 boycott wave: from 3 March 2024 it cut more than 2,000 jobs — about 4% of its roughly 50,000 employees — almost all in its Starbucks MENA stores, with a spokesperson citing "continually challenging trading conditions over the last six months." Separately, in March 2024 Alshaya Starbucks and The Starbucks Foundation jointly committed $3 million to World Central Kitchen to provide one million meals in Gaza, alongside an employee donation-matching drive. Because Alshaya is a private Kuwaiti company, it publishes no audited public accounts and files nothing with US regulators, so the absence recorded here rests on news and official-statement review rather than on filings.

Gulf News (Reuters report on Alshaya job cuts) Starbucks Stories EMEA — Starbucks Foundation and Alshaya Starbucks Gaza aid Starbucks — Facts about Starbucks in the Middle East (markets list, Israel exit 2003) The National — Starbucks Middle East operator to shed 2,000 jobs amid Gaza war boycotts

What we checked

Frequently asked questions

Did M.H. Alshaya Co. donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?

No records found. We searched 5 public source types — news and official statements, nonprofit tax filings, SEC filings, and federal election records — and found no donations from M.H. Alshaya Co.. The dated search log on this page shows exactly where we looked.

Where does this information come from?

Every record on this page links to its source — news reports, official company statements, tax filings, or government records. 4 distinct sources are cited for M.H. Alshaya Co.. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.

Sources & citations

Record last updated: 2026-07-30

Companies with documented support