Registry
Does LuLu support Israel?
LuLu Group International
We have not yet found publicly recorded donations from LuLu. Absence of records does not confirm absence of support.
Filed under: Retail & supermarket chains · Companies that support Israel
Background
LuLu Group International is an Abu Dhabi-headquartered retailer founded and chaired by Indian businessman M.A. Yusuff Ali, running more than 200 LuLu Hypermarkets and malls across the GCC, Egypt, India, Malaysia and beyond, with roughly 65,000 employees; its retail arm, Lulu Retail Holdings PLC, listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on 14 November 2024, raising about $1.72 billion in the UAE's largest IPO of that year. No recorded donations, investments, contracts, sponsorships or statements in support of Israel were found for LuLu Group, Lulu Retail Holdings or Yusuff Ali. Two claims that circulate about LuLu need precise handling. First, LuLu has never opened a store in Israel: what actually happened is that in March 2022 the Israeli business daily Globes reported — sourced to officials at Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry, who were then courting foreign chains to add competition to the Israeli grocery market — that the ministry was in talks with LuLu about the possibility of it operating there. The report was picked up by JNS and Israel Hayom. LuLu never confirmed the talks, no agreement, investment or store followed, and the chain that did enter Israel in that push was France's Carrefour, in May 2023. Exploratory talks reported by one side, with no company confirmation and no outcome, are recorded here as background, not as evidence of support. Second, claims that LuLu stocks Israeli products in its Gulf stores circulate widely on social media; no primary document or mainstream report was found corroborating them, and the UAE's 2020 repeal of its Israel boycott law applies to the country's importers generally rather than describing any specific LuLu decision. The company's own documented act relating to the conflict runs the other way: on 12 December 2023 LuLu handed 50 tonnes of food, medicine and hygiene supplies to the Egyptian Red Crescent in Cairo for delivery into Gaza via Rafah, took part in the UAE's 'Tarahum for Gaza' campaign with collection points in its hypermarkets alongside the Emirates Red Crescent, and donated 25,000 Bahraini dinars (about $66,325) to Bahrain's Royal Humanitarian Foundation. Because LuLu Group is privately held and its listed arm reports to the ADX rather than to US regulators, the absence recorded here rests on news and official-statement review rather than on US filings.
Globes — Abu Dhabi retail giant LuLu in talks to open in Israel (March 2022) Globes — Israel woos UAE supermarket chains JNS — UAE-based retail giant LuLu negotiates operation in Israel Arab News — LuLu Group sends relief aid to Gaza (December 2023) Muscat Daily — Lulu Retail IPO oversubscribed 25 times, ADX listing November 2024
What we checked
- News & official statements — 2026-07-30
- Nonprofit tax filings (Form 990) — 2026-07-30
- SEC filings — 2026-07-30
- Federal election records (FEC) — 2026-07-30An OpenFEC committee search for LuLu Group returned zero committees. Foreign corporations and foreign nationals are barred from contributing in US federal elections, so no US political money trail exists for the group or its chairman.
- Independent fact-checkers — 2026-07-30
- usaspending — 2026-09-25Queried the USAspending.gov award API on 2026-09-25 for US federal contracts, grants and other awards to this company whose award text mentions Israel. It returned no awards.
- lobbying — 2026-09-25Searched the US Lobbying Disclosure Act database at lda.gov on 2026-09-25 for filings naming this company as the client whose reported lobbying issues mention Israel. No filings matched.
- ohchr — 2026-09-25Checked the UN OHCHR database of business enterprises involved in activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, report A/HRC/60/19, on 2026-09-25. This company is not listed in it.
- whoprofits — 2026-09-25Searched the Who Profits company index on 2026-09-25 — the research centre that documents corporate involvement in the Israeli occupation. This company has no profile there.
- hebrew-arabic-press — 2026-09-26GDELT returned 40 Hebrew leads and no Arabic ones; all matched "Lulu" for other subjects — Lululemon, Rabbi Ben Lulu, Natali Lulu Shamriz. The three scored items (ynet, Emess) were read and rejected. Re-read the archived 2022 Globes talks report; Arabic press showed only LuLu Gaza relief.
Frequently asked questions
Did LuLu donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?
No records found. We searched 10 public source types — news and official statements, nonprofit tax filings, SEC filings, and federal election records — and found no donations from LuLu. 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. 5 distinct sources are cited for LuLu. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.
Sources & citations
Record last updated: 2026-09-26
- Globes — Abu Dhabi retail giant LuLu in talks to open in Israel (March 2022) en.globes.co.il
- Globes — Israel woos UAE supermarket chains en.globes.co.il
- JNS — UAE-based retail giant LuLu negotiates operation in Israel jns.org
- Arab News — LuLu Group sends relief aid to Gaza (December 2023) arabnews.com
- Muscat Daily — Lulu Retail IPO oversubscribed 25 times, ADX listing November 2024 muscatdaily.com