Registry
Does Pizza Hut support Israel?
Owned by Yum! Brands Records for the parent company are kept separately.
Pizza Hut does business in Israel — we found records of its operations there, but no record of donations, aid, or a public statement of support. Every claim below links to its source.
Filed under: Fast food & restaurant chains · Companies that support Israel
Background
Pizza Hut is a brand of Yum! Brands, and its Israeli branches are owned and operated by an independent exclusive franchisee — Udi Shamai's Tabasco Holdings — not by Pizza Hut corporate. The boycott campaigns against the brand stem from that franchisee's actions: the 2017 ad mocking the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike (for which the brand apologized) and the January 2024 reposts of soldiers with pizza boxes, after which the BDS movement endorsed Pizza Hut as an "organic boycott target". A further link runs through the franchisee's owner: Shamai founded Dragontail Systems, the Israeli-founded kitchen-technology company that parent Yum! Brands acquired in 2021 — a parent-level transaction documented on the Yum! Brands page alongside its Tictuk Technologies acquisition. No donation by Pizza Hut corporate or Yum! Brands to the Israeli military or government has been documented. The Hebrew press adds two further threads, both the Israeli franchisee's rather than the brand's: charity tie-ups with Israeli children's causes — donated refreshments at a June 2022 fundraiser for Sheba Medical Center's children's hospital, a Make-A-Wish "Stars Edition" pizza in December 2024, and a July 2025 announcement that Variety Israel's "pink bottles" would be sold at its branches — and a March 2025 teaser video pulled after Israeli customers said it mimicked a hostage-return broadcast. Coverage in April 2026 of the franchisee continuing to pay the salary of Binyamin Yemanu Zalka, a 21-year-old employee murdered outside its Petah Tikva branch, and setting up an aid fund for his family, is an employer's response to a crime against its own worker and is not listed here as support for Israel.
Newsweek Globes Wikipedia — Pizza Hut Israel BDS Movement (boycott guide) ynet TMI (Maariv)
Timeline of documented records
Documented records
| Type | Date | Amount | Recipient | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operations in Israel | 2008 | — | Israeli market (franchise restaurants, including West Bank settlement branches) Pizza Hut Israel is run by Tabasco Holdings Ltd., the brand's exclusive Israeli franchisee controlled by the Shamai family since Udi Shamai bought out prior owner Dor in 2008. The franchisee operates roughly 100 branches, including outlets in West Bank settlements (Ma'ale Adumim, Beitar Illit) and East Jerusalem settlement neighborhoods, and in 2022 opened the brand's first automated unit in Israel. These are actions and operations of the independent local franchisee, not of Pizza Hut corporate or parent Yum! Brands. | |
| Franchisee action | 2017-05 | — | — Pizza Hut Israel — run by the local franchisee, not Yum corporate — published a Facebook ad mocking jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti during a mass prisoner hunger strike, photoshopping a pizza box into his cell with the caption "Barghouti: If you're going to break the strike, isn't pizza better?". After boycott calls across the region, Pizza Hut (brand level) apologized, called the ad "completely inappropriate", and said the Israeli agency that created it was dismissed. | |
| Franchisee action | 2022-06 | — | Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center — fundraiser for its pediatric hemato-oncology department Pizza Hut Israel — the franchisee-run chain, not Pizza Hut corporate or Yum! Brands — was named among the businesses that donated the refreshments served at a fundraising event for the pediatric hemato-oncology department of the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, part of Sheba Medical Center. The event was held at Zappa Midtown in Tel Aviv on the Friday before TMI reported it on 6 June 2022; the same report names Mason-Kaiser and the Golda ice cream chain as donors of refreshments and the Central Bottling Company (Coca-Cola Israel) as the donor of the drinks. No value is given for the donated food. | One source |
| Franchisee action | 2024-01-19 | — | — Pizza Hut Israel's Instagram account reposted images of Israeli soldiers holding stacks of Pizza Hut boxes (one post captioned "For the love of Israel"), with reports the chain provided free meals to soldiers on Israeli bases; Newsweek could not verify the free-meal claim, and neither Pizza Hut global nor Yum Brands publicly responded. The action — by the Israeli franchisee, not Pizza Hut corporate — set off #BoycottPizzaHut campaigns, and the BDS movement endorsed Pizza Hut as an "organic boycott target". | |
| Franchisee action | 2024-12 | — | Make-A-Wish Israel Pizza Hut Israel — the franchisee-run chain, not Pizza Hut corporate or Yum! Brands — ran a cause-marketing tie-up with Make-A-Wish Israel. For Hanukkah 2024 it launched a four-pizza "Stars Edition" (three savoury, one sweet) with chef Moshik Roth, a board member of Make-A-Wish Israel, in collaboration with that charity; Walla reported on 23 December 2024 that the pizzas cost NIS 84.90 and that every purchase constitutes a donation to Make-A-Wish, without saying how much of the price reaches the charity. Idit Bachar, the Israeli chain's CEO, is quoted launching it. The report records no sum given by the company itself. | One source |
| Franchisee action | 2025-03-01 | — | — Pizza Hut Israel — the franchisee-run chain, not Pizza Hut corporate — removed from social media a teaser video that viewers said looked like a live broadcast of hostages being returned. The teaser, for a product "arriving in the country" in March, staged a special news broadcast in which a reporter in the field says "we see it approaching, there is no delay in the timings" and that the new product "will enter Israeli territory". Customers objected on the chain's own Instagram page — one wrote "shocking, to compare pizza to hostages" — and it pulled the teaser, saying it had no intention of referring to the hostages, that it removed the video immediately once this was pointed out, apologising to anyone hurt by it and wishing for the swift return of all the hostages. Reported by ynet on 1 March 2025. | One source |
| Franchisee action | 2025-07 | — | Variety Israel Pizza Hut Israel — the franchisee-run chain, not Pizza Hut corporate or Yum! Brands — was named as a new outlet for a children's-charity campaign. ice reported on 14 July 2025 that Variety Israel's Mey Eden "pink bottles" would be relaunched on 15 July at a flat NIS 5, with all proceeds to the charity, and would be sold for the first time at Pizza Hut Israel's branches (in-store and for delivery) alongside Shufersal, Universe and Be Pharm. The report is an announcement made before the launch and records no sum given by the company itself. | One source |
Frequently asked questions
Did Pizza Hut donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?
We have no records of donations. What is on record is commercial activity in Israel (Operations in Israel, Franchisee action), which is not the same as support — see the records on this page.
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. 16 distinct sources are cited for Pizza Hut. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.
Sources & citations
Record last updated: 2026-09-26
- Wikipedia — Pizza Hut Israel en.wikipedia.org
- Globes en.globes.co.il
- Franchise Times franchisetimes.com
- NBC News nbcnews.com
- Times of Israel timesofisrael.com
- VOA News voanews.com
- BBC Arabic bbc.com
- TMI (Maariv) tmi.maariv.co.il
- Newsweek newsweek.com
- USA Today (via Yahoo) finance.yahoo.com
- Time time.com
- Walla Money finance.walla.co.il
- ynet ynet.co.il
- ice ice.co.il
- BDS Movement (boycott guide) bdsmovement.net
- ynet ynet.co.il