The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the broadest Palestinian coalition leading the global BDS movement, today officially endorsed the grassroots organic campaign to boycott ZARA.
A statement by the organization proclaimed, “We call on people of conscience around the world to boycott ZARA, the flagship brand of the Spanish multinational Inditex, for its deep and growing complicity in Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, apartheid, and genocide.”
The statement continued:
ZARA’s complicity with Israel’s regime of oppression runs deep:
- At the start of 2025, amid Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza, ZARA opened its largest-ever store near Tel Aviv- a 4,500 m² flagship in the Big Fashion Glilot complex, deepening Zara’s economic ties with apartheid Israel, where the brand already operates dozens of stores.
- In October 2022, ZARA’s Israeli franchisee hosted a campaign event for the fascist and genocidal Israeli minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who praised the brand .
- In June 2021, ZARA’s then-head designer made racist comments against Palestinians online, but the company issued only a vague statement without any real consequences.
- In December 2023, ZARA ran an ad campaign titled “The Jacket,” depicting mannequins wrapped in white shrouds next to crumbled statues. Sparking backlash by the public, who saw it as a direct allusion to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the brand removed it and issued a noncommittal apology without addressing its ties to Israel.
The BDS call to boycott ZARA comes at a time when Israel is “plausibly” committing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, as determined by the International Court of Justice.
Fiona Ben Chekroun, European Campaigns Co-Coordinator with the BDS movement, stated:
“ZARA has chosen to fashion-wash genocide and apartheid. The fast fashion outlet is also devastating the planet and exploiting communities globally. Boycott ZARA until it ends its criminal complicity.
“The BDS movement officially endorses the organic call to boycott Zara. We call on workers, artists, students, trade unions, human rights defenders, and ethical consumers around the world to boycott ZARA, and pressure Inditex to end its complicity in Israel’s crimes and withdraw its operations from apartheid Israel.”
Inditex’s complicity in human rights violations extends beyond Palestine. The company has been linked to abusive labour conditions in Brazil, and to allegations of workers’ rights violations in Myanmar, forcing the company to quit the country after a public pressure campaign. These cases form part of a wider pattern of Inditex’s failure to uphold basic rights across its global supply chains.
Venetia La Mana, fashion and sustainability campaigner, said:
“I’m backing the boycott campaign against Zara because the brand is unashamedly increasing its financial investment in the genocidal state of Israel, under the backdrop of the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
“Zara has been oversupplying fast-turnaround, trend-driven garments for decades at the cost of the people making their clothes – most of whom are working in unsafe conditions and earning poverty wages – and the communities on the frontlines of the textile waste crisis, who don’t have the resources to cope with Inditex’s ruthless greed. Zara claims to care about “sustainability”, but they are a champion greenwasher and key contributor to climate breakdown.”
As highlighted in a legal analysis by Dr. Irene Pietropaoli for SOMO and Al-Haq, executives of corporations worldwide can be held legally accountable for complicity in Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Inditex owns Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius, and Zara Home. While all operate in apartheid Israel, Zara is Inditex’s most prominent and strategically marketed brand, and is therefore the primary focus of the strategic BDS boycott campaign.
