In October 2023, Starbucks sued its union Workers United over a pro-Palestinian message posted on the union’s social media. The union, which has organised workers in 370+ US Starbucks stores, posted this in a now deleted tweet:
Whilst Starbucks does not directly fund the Israeli occupation, Marley Hamil explains in this article for The Courier:
What Starbucks perceives as a political stance, I view it as a humanitarian one. The union didn’t explicitly criticize Israel or its military; rather, they expressed solidarity with Palestinian civilians enduring death, destruction and displacement.Why should I contribute my hard-earned money to a company more concerned with its bottom line than standing up for victims of genocide?
Boycotting has become a way to stand in support of both the Palestinian Liberation Movement, and the union workers that Starbucks sought to silence, taking a stand against the morally bankrupt, spineless and detached companies that dominate America.
It is also worth noting that former CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz is a staunch Zionist who is likely to still have ties with the corporation.
This piece by Arab News documents that in June 2022, their contributing editor Robert Fisk wrote that Starbucks “has been trying to damp down its pro-Israeli image, telling protesters who have written to the company that its chief executive, Howard Schultz, who is himself Jewish, does not believe that terrorism is representative of the Palestinian people.” The piece also highlights that “googling “Starbucks-Israeli settlements” revealed a goldmine of information”.