Carrefour closes business in Oman after leaving Jordan over BDS campaign pressure

French multinational retail corporation Carrefour has been forced to halt its business in Oman two months after closing all its branches in Jordan owing to a worldwide anti-Israel campaign in response to the regime’s decades-long crimes against Palestinians.

Carrefour, which is regarded as one of the largest supermarket chains in the world, announced in a statement on its Instagram handle on Tuesday that it had officially ceased operations in Oman.

“Effective from January 7, 2025, Carrefour operations will be discontinued in the Sultanate of Oman,” the statement said.

The announcement follows a similar decision made on November 5, 2024, when the renowned retail brand confirmed the complete termination of its commercial dealings in Jordan.

The decision was publicized by Majid Al Futtaim, who owns exclusive rights to operate the retailer in the West Asia region and Arab world, after a large-scale and creative boycott campaign caused huge financial losses and reputational damage for Carrefour.

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian coalition leading the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, launched with its partners a global campaign to boycott Carrefour in December 2022 due to the French global retail group’s complicity in the crimes of the Israeli regime against the Palestinian people.

Over the past two years, the #BoycottCarrefour campaign has seen numerous protests outside Carrefour stores despite repressive measures in some countries to stifle activism calling for an end to complicity.

Since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the call to boycott Carrefour has escalated due to its branches' support for the crime of genocide by providing free gift packages to Israel’s forces.

Impact of BDS movement on Israel amid its war on Gaza

As the war on Gaza rolls into its second year, global calls for accountability grow louder. The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign aimed at pressuring Israel to comply with international law has meanwhile gained momentum.

One of these stores launched a campaign to collect donations to support the “brave” Israeli soldiers participating in the genocide. Moreover, Carrefour signed partnership agreements with Israeli technology companies and banks involved in Israel’s war crimes and grave human rights violations against Palestinians.

According to Futtaim Group’s semi-annual report for 2024, retail sector profits fell by 47% due to the decline in consumer confidence as a result of “the geopolitical conflict in the region,” referring to the widespread and influential popular boycott campaign across the region, from Jordan to Morocco, from Egypt and Tunisia to Bahrain and Kuwait and even the Emirates.

Israel launched the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023. The war has so far killed at least 45,885 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 109,196 others.

Gaza’s 2.3 million populations have been displaced and much of the besieged territory is in ruins.

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