Pizza Hut Apologizes For Joking About Palestinian Hunger Strike

Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Daniel J. Solomon May 10, 2017

Image by Thinkstock

Pizza Hut is facing calls for a boycott after its Israel branch mocked Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti for breaking his prison hunger strike with a candy bar and some cookies.

“Barghouti: If you’re going to break the strike, isn’t pizza better?” Pizza Hut in Israel tweeted, showing footage from the Israel Prison Service showing Barghouti eating.

The tweet was deleted and Pizza Hut’s international arm apologized on Twitter after the post set off a firestorm.

“Pizza Hut International apologizes for any offense caused by a recent post on Pizza Hut Israel’s Facebook page. It was completely inappropriate and does not reflect the values of our brand,” read the mea culpa.

Barghouti, who is serving a life sentence in Israeli prison due to supposed terror activities, launched a hunger strike with other Palestinian detainees demanding that authorities improve conditions in the penal system. His attorney said that Israel may have planted food in his cell in order to set him up to break the strike.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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