Registry · RMLI
Does Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing support Israel?
Yes — Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing has documented support for Israel on record, including $2,600,000 in donations. Every claim below links to its source.
Filed under: Retail & supermarket chains · Companies that support Israel
Background
Rami Levy is unusual among Israeli retailers in that the man and the company are hard to separate: he founded the chain, controls about 40% of it, and is personally identified with an argument that commerce in the West Bank builds co-existence — a position that has both earned him Palestinian customers at his settlement-area stores and made him a boycott target for the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian activists. On the record we document, corporate actions and personal positions are kept apart: the ILS 1.5 million donated to soldiers and bereaved families in October 2023, the ILS 8 million reported for 2024 and the one-shekel mobile packages for soldiers are company acts, while the co-existence argument and the 'settler' dispute with Ramallah are his own. One war-time initiative drew criticism at home rather than abroad: in December 2023 hostage families complained to TheMarker that the chain's sale of soldier-themed dog tags diverted revenue from their own campaign. The group also majority-owns the Cofix coffee chain, which is covered separately.
Ynetnews TheMarker (Hebrew) — hostage families criticise dog-tag sales Calcalist (Hebrew) — TA-125 corporate donations
Timeline of documented support
Documented support
| Type | Date | Amount | Recipient | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operations in Israel | 1976 | — | State of Israel (taxes, employment, consumer-price impact) Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing is Israel's third-largest supermarket chain, built by Rami Levy from a wholesale operation he started in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market in the 1970s into a discount chain that reshaped Israeli grocery prices. It is listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (RMLI) with annual revenue in the $1-5 billion range, and Rami Levy himself is the controlling shareholder with about 39.9%. The group also controls the Good Pharm pharmacy chain, the Beit Haperot produce chain, an MVNO mobile business (Rami Levy Communications, running on Pelephone infrastructure) and — since July 2018 — a 50.01% controlling stake in the Israeli discount coffee chain Cofix. Attribution note: Cofix is a separate listed company (see cofix.json); its actions are its own. | |
| Donation | 2023-10-12 | $400,000 | IDF soldiers and bereaved Israeli families The Rami Levy chain announced on 12 October 2023 that it had donated more than ILS 1.5 million (about $400,000 at ~3.7 ILS/USD) since the start of that week to support bereaved families and IDF soldiers. Alongside the cash, the chain launched a digital wallet feature letting customers fund and send shopping baskets remotely to recipients in the south and north without transporting goods themselves. Attributed to Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing corporate; the dollar figure is a conversion of the reported shekel amount. | |
| In-kind support | 2023-12 | — | Serving IDF soldiers Between 3 and 31 December 2023 Rami Levy Communications, the group's mobile arm, gave serving soldiers a full mobile package — 50 GB of data, 2,000 minutes and 2,000 SMS — for ILS 1 for a year, against presentation of a soldier's ID at any of its 40 branches from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat; parents could collect it on a soldier's behalf. The company said a business's obligation was 'to provide them maximum support as a token of appreciation.' The chain ran parallel drives donating phone chargers, power banks, cases and snack packages to soldiers. Attributed to Rami Levy Communications, a subsidiary of the group. | |
| Donation | 2024 | $2,200,000 | War-affected populations in Israel (aggregate reported corporate giving) In its May 2025 survey of giving by Tel Aviv-125 index companies, Calcalist reported that Rami Levy donated ILS 8 million in 2024 — the highest share of profit in the survey at roughly 3% of the company's ILS 260 million net income, about $2.2 million at ~3.7 ILS/USD — for populations affected by the war. Aggregate corporate figure as compiled by Calcalist; the dollar value is a conversion, not a reported amount. | |
| Operations in Israel | 2018 | — | Israeli settlement economy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem Rami Levy runs supermarkets inside Israeli settlements and settlement industrial zones in the occupied West Bank — including Mishor Adumim, Sha'ar Binyamin, Beitar Illit, Gush Etzion, Ariel and Modi'in Illit — plus branches in the Ramot neighbourhood and Atarot industrial zone in East Jerusalem, and delivers online to more than 40 settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan. In 2018 the group opened a 25,000-square-metre shopping mall with some 50 businesses in the Atarot industrial zone, marketed as a joint Israeli-Palestinian mall, after winning a 2011 tender for a mall in Ariel. Its Good Pharm, Cofix and Beit Haperot subsidiaries also operate outlets there. The chain's West Bank stores draw large numbers of Palestinian shoppers because of their low prices, which is why Palestinian activists and the Palestinian Authority have urged a boycott of them. | |
| Public statement | 2019-03-02 | — | Not applicable — personal public position of founder Rami Levy Rami Levy personally — the founder and controlling shareholder, speaking for himself rather than issuing a corporate policy — argues for economic co-existence through commerce in the West Bank: he says he serves customers and hires staff without distinguishing between Jews and Palestinians, and he promoted the Atarot mall as a joint Israeli-Palestinian project. That position puts him in direct conflict with the Palestinian Authority's settlement-boycott policy: in March 2019 Ynetnews reported that Mahmoud Abbas refused to include him in a meeting with the Breaking the Impasse business delegation, with organisers stating 'he is a settler.' Attribution note: this is Levy's personal stance, distinct from the company's documented donations; separately, a 2020 class-action request alleged the chain discriminated by not delivering to the Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit Hanina while serving nearby settlement neighbourhoods. | |
| Donations total | $2,600,000 | |||
Frequently asked questions
Did Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?
Yes. Documented donations total $2,600,000, including $2,200,000 to War-affected populations in Israel (aggregate reported corporate giving). Each donation is listed on this page with its date and source.
How much has Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing given?
Documented donations total $2,600,000. The largest single recorded item is $2,200,000 to War-affected populations in Israel (aggregate reported corporate giving) (2024).
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. 8 distinct sources are cited for Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.
Sources & citations
Record last updated: 2026-07-30
- Who Profits — Rami Levi Hashikma Marketing whoprofits.org
- The Forward forward.com
- Globes — Rami Levy investing in Cofix en.globes.co.il
- ICE (Hebrew) ice.co.il
- Kipa (Hebrew) kipa.co.il
- Calcalist (Hebrew) — TA-125 corporate donations calcalist.co.il
- Ynetnews ynetnews.com
- TheMarker (Hebrew) — hostage families criticise dog-tag sales themarker.com