Used to frequent McDonald's almost every day, Jana and her brother Ali, 10, are among many Middle Easterners who are now boycotting goods they feel favour Israel.
Manama, Bahrain: As Israel bombards Gaza in its campaign to destroy Hamas, 14-year-old Jana Abdullah uses a tablet to browse a list of Western brands she should stay away from.
Used to frequent McDonald's almost every day, Jana and her brother Ali, 10, are among many Middle Easterners who are now boycotting goods they feel favour Israel.
Due to the campaign, parents and kids are avoiding well-known brands like Starbucks, KFC, and Carrefour on social media, especially TikTok.
"We have started to boycott all products that support Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians," Jana tells the AFP news agency.
"We don't want our money to fuel further fighting," she said, looking for regional substitutes.
Since the Palestinian organisation Hamas carried out a massive attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,400 people—mostly civilians—and the kidnapping of over 240 others, the movement has progressively grown, according to Israeli officials.
Since then, Israel has attacked Gaza nonstop and dispatched ground forces, according to the health ministry in the territory controlled by Hamas, which has resulted in the deaths of over 9,700 people, the majority of whom were women and children.
Enraged by the Israeli attacks, Arabs all over the region have started to boycott companies that are affiliated with Israel's allies, most notably the US.
Calls for Arab nations to sever their connections with Israel have coincided with the boycott, and weekly pro-Palestinian demonstrations have taken place in major cities.
Saudi Arabia declared a halt to normalisation talks, Turkey and Jordan withdrew their ambassadors from Israel, and Bahrain's parliament declared the suspension of trade relations despite the absence of official confirmation.
Grim billboards
The boycott campaign, spearheaded by young people who are tech-savvy, uses smartphone apps, specialised websites, and browser extensions to identify products that are prohibited.
Items that are advertised online are blurred if they are on the list, according to the PalestinePact Google Chrome extension.
There are also more conventional approaches in use. Huge billboards in Kuwait City depict children covered in bandages and covered in blood beside a four-lane highway.
Aimed at customers who continue to use the targeted goods, the grim slogan poses the question, "Did you kill a Palestinian today?"
An activist from Kuwait named Mishari al-Ibrahim claims that Western backing for Israel'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."
McDonald's has become a very attractive target. The Israeli franchise of a US fast food chain caused a stir in the area last month when it revealed it had fed thousands of free meals to the Israeli army.
In response, a different company called McDonald's Kuwait declared on social media that it "stands with Palestine" and committed more than $160,000 to aid efforts in Gaza.
Additionally, McDonald's Qatar promised to donate $275,000 to Gaza relief efforts, emphasising in a statement released last month that it was unrelated to the Israeli locations.
'Pay for the shots'
Some Western media outlets in Qatar were forced to close after their owners posted online content that supported Israel.
October saw the closure of Maitre Choux, a French pastry company, and Pura Vida Miami, a US cafe.
Because of the boycott, a domestic soda brand that was previously unpopular with most Egyptians has gained popularity.
Established in 1920, Spiro Spathis reported that in a recent hiring round spurred by the increasing demand, it received over 15,000 applications.
Nonetheless, the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce has cautioned that the boycott might have a significant effect on Egypt's economy.
According to a statement, "the impact on the Egyptian investors and tens of thousands of workers will be profound," emphasising that local branches are owned by franchisees in Egypt.
Abu Abdullah is closely examining a bottle of flavor-infused milk at a grocery store in Amman, Jordan, while social media posts have cautioned customers not to "pay for bullets" in that country.
He added, "Ah, this is made in Tunisia," as his four-year-old son Abdullah stood next to him.
"This is the least we can do for our brothers in Gaza," he said. "We must boycott."