The Starbucks in Dearborn, located on Michigan Ave., is often frequented by Arab Americans.

DEARBORN – In a surprise move last week, Starbucks and its CEO Howard Schultz issued a public statement denying that the coffee chain “provides financial support to Israel”, calling such claims “false rumors.”

The company’s affiliation with Israel has been widely speculated and debated among the Arab American community for more than a decade.

With heightened conflict in Gaza in recent months, a growing sentiment toward boycotting Starbucks seems to have blossomed on a local level. Many residents have been outspoken and persistent about boycotting the company, asking coffee drinkers to give their business to competitors such as Tim Hortons and Biggby Coffee.

Online, Starbucks continued to appear on various boycott lists, along with other internationally recognized name brands as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nestle, Revlon and Motorola.

In July, The Arab American News published a commentary that questioned the placement of some of the companies on the list, citing Starbucks as one of the misconstrued companies that people in the community have continued to reference.

Our commentary was met with mixed reactions, with many readers firing back that Starbucks did in fact support Israel and that CEO Schultz was a publicly known pro-Zionist.

Coincidentally, the company would confirm our statements just a week after our commentary was shared across social media and sparked heavy debates on Facebook and Twitter.

“Rumors that Starbucks or Howard provides financial support to the Israeli government and/or the Israeli Army are unequivocally false,” the company said in a statement last week. “Starbucks is a publicly held company and as such, is required to disclose any corporate giving each year through a proxy statement.”

Furthermore, the coffee chain elaborated on its heavy presence in the Middle East, highlighting that it has collaborated with trading partners in the region since 1999.

Starbucks currently operates more than 600 locations in the region and their products are also carried by the Alshaya Group, which operates more than 2,600 retail stores.

Starbucks has successfully operated in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Morocco.

Local activist Mirna Haidar, who has been involved with the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) Movement since 2006, shared her opinion of the community’s perception of Starbucks. She said she’s done extensive research on the company and its CEO and has yet to see evidence that it politically or economically supports Israel.

“I did find out that the corporation itself does not fund Israel  in any way— neither the Israeli government or the Israeli defense force,” Haidar said. “The rumors stem from claims that the CEO had been funding money from his own profits to the Israeli government, but none of this has ever been verified.”

Haidar added that Starbucks has never been one of the companies listed on the BDS website and believes their list to be the most accurate, because the movement has done extensive research and based its list on hard evidence.

Haidar also said the community should stop playing the shaming and blaming game and focus on a more organized and aligned effort to effectively boycott companies who are directly funneling money to the Israeli military.

“It distracts us from the proper way to do anything about this,” she said. “We need to focus on the real corporations that are politically and economically supporting the Israeli propaganda instead. We need to lobby our own people to boycott companies in the most effective ways possible.”

Local activist Zeinab Chami told The Arab American News that while the company itself might not directly fund Israel, she believes Schultz himself is an Israeli advocate, warranting her to stay as far away from the coffee chain as possible.

“Howard Schultz himself is the issue,” Chami stated. “He may not have given money to the Israeli defense force, but he supports settlements and a simple internet search will provide you that information.”

Like many community members, Chami believes that is more than enough justification to boycott the company. She stresses that there are alternative products to just about everything, and Arab Americans should do their research and stray away from those companies.

 “Even if there is one iota of suspicion that a company supports Israel, I’m going to stay far away from it,” Chami added. “You can get a different kind of coffee creamer or bottled water. That’s the least we can do for people living under occupation. We complain and gripe about boycotting all these companies while people suffer under occupation and our money is helping to fund it. If it’s that difficult, then it just shows you how deep the pinnacle of the zionist regime has reached.”

Despite Starbucks’ statement last week, many commentators on Facebook were still weary of the news. Some provided information that stated Schultz had received a tribute award from Israeli lobbyists back in 1998, while others believed last week’s statement from Starbucks was simply a PR stunt.

“They are liars. Their sales probably dropped for the month of July, and thought that putting out a false statement would help their August sales,” said one Facebook user.

“Starbucks is a publicly owned company and the CEO doesn’t control its contributions,” a third Facebook user said. “He personally can do whatever he wants. Stop the madness, everyone. But if you want to boycott, then make sure you also boycott Coca-Cola and its 450 owned brands and over 3000 beverages.”

The extent of the boycott also appears to differ among community members. Some believe internationally-recognized corporations who conduct business with Israel should be boycotted all-together, while others focus on companies who directly support the Israeli government or are based there.

On the BDS website, Sabra Hummus, Sodastream and Ahava cosmetics are listed as the most prominent Israeli exports in the U.S. Worldwide recognized corporations that appear to have aided the Israeli government include HP, Motorola, Hyundai, Volvo and Caterpillar.

For more information on the BDS Movement visit:

//www.bdsmovement.net/.