MANAMA: In a convenience store in Bahrain, 14-year-old Jana Abdullah carries a tablet as she shops, checking a list of Western brands to avoid as the Zionist entity pounds Gaza in its campaign to destroy Hamas. Jana and her 10-year-old brother, Ali, used to eat at a US fast food chain nearly daily, but they are among many across the Middle East now boycotting products they believe support the Zionist entity.

With the campaign spreading on social media including TikTok, children as well as their parents are shunning major Western brands. “We have started to boycott all products that support (the Zionist entity) in solidarity with the Palestinians,” Jana tells AFP. “We do not want our money to contribute to more fighting,” she added, searching for local replacements.

Across the region, Arabs angered by the Zionist attacks have turned against brands associated with the Zionist entity’s allies, notably the United States. The boycott has been accompanied by calls for Arab states to cut ties with the Zionist entity, while pro-Palestinian rallies have taken place weekly in major capitals. Turkey and Jordan have recalled ambassadors to the Zionist entity, Saudi Arabia announced a pause in normalization talks and Bahrain’s parliament said trade ties had been halted, although there was no government confirmation.

Led by tech-savvy youth, the boycott campaign includes browser extensions, dedicated websites and smartphone apps that identify proscribed products. One Google Chrome extension, PalestinePact, blurs items advertised online if they are included in the list. More traditional methods are also in use. Beside a four-lane highway in Kuwait, giant billboards show images of bloodstained children in bandages.

“Did you kill a Palestinian today?” the grim slogan asks, jabbing at consumers who are still using the targeted goods. According to Mishari Al-Ibrahim, a Kuwaiti activist, Western support for the Zionist entity’s Gaza offensive “strengthened the spread of the boycott in Kuwait”. “It created a mental image among Kuwaitis that the West’s slogans and what it says about human rights do not apply to us.”

The US fast food chain has found itself a prime target. Last month, the chain’s Zionist franchise announced it had given thousands of free meals to the Zionist army, sparking uproar in the region. The US fast food chain’s franchisee in Kuwait, a separate entity, responded by pledging more than $160,000 to relief efforts in Gaza, and said it “stands with Palestine” in a statement on social media.

The US fast food chain’s franchisee in Qatar also pledged $275,000 to relief efforts in Gaza, and stressed in a statement last month that it was separate to the Zionist branches. In a statement this month, the US fast food chain said it “is not funding or supporting any government involved in this conflict”.

In Qatar, some Western outlets have been forced to close after their owners shared pro-Zionist content online. The Doha branches of Pura Vida Miami, a US cafe, and French pastry company Maitre Choux both shut in October. In Egypt, a home-grown soda brand long ignored by much of the population has come into vogue because of the boycott. Spiro Spathis, founded in 1920, said it recently received more than 15,000 applications in a hiring round prompted by the growing demand.

However, the boycott could have a deep impact on Egypt’s economy, the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce has warned. “The impact on the Egyptian investors and tens of thousands of workers will be profound,” a statement said, stressing that local branches are owned by Egyptian franchisees.

Meanwhile in Jordan, where social media posts have warned consumers not to “pay for bullets”, Abu Abdullah is closely inspecting a bottle of flavored milk at a grocery store in the capital, Amman. “Ah, this is made in Tunisia,” he said, his four-year-old son Abdullah standing beside him. “This is the least we can do for our brothers in Gaza,” he said. “We must boycott.”