Everything You Need to Know About Why We Boycott ZARA

ZARA is not just a clothing brand. It is a company choosing to stand with genocide, apartheid, and racism.

While Gaza was under deadly attack, ZARA expanded its business in Israel. While children were being killed, designers and artists were being buried, and cultural history was being erased, ZARA stayed silent. Worse, it continued to glamorize Israel’s image while it committed mass killing.

This is not fashion. This is complicity.

ZARA Opened Its Biggest Store in Israel During the Gaza Genocide

At the start of 2025, while bombs were falling on Gaza, ZARA opened its largest ever store in Israel. A 4,500 square meter flagship near Tel Aviv.

This was not an accident. It was a decision to deepen profits while Israel carried out what experts and legal scholars now call a genocide.

More than 80,000 Palestinians have been killed. Gaza’s schools, hospitals, homes, and fashion sector have been destroyed. The aim was not just war. It was to wipe out life, culture, and identity.

ZARA opened a store during all of this.

Hosting Far-Right Extremists Is Part of ZARA’s Record

In 2022, the Israeli chair of ZARA’s franchise, Joey Schwebel, hosted a campaign event in his home for Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right minister who has called for:

• Expelling Palestinians from their land
• Denying humanitarian aid to Gaza
• Shooting civilians

Ben-Gvir praised ZARA directly after the event, tweeting:

“ZARA, beautiful clothes, beautiful Israelis”

This is who ZARA is choosing to align with. Openly racist leaders who celebrate the murder of Palestinians.

ZARA’s Racist and Violent History Did Not Start in 2025

ZARA has a long pattern of enabling or ignoring racism and violence.

In 2021, its head designer sent hateful messages to a Palestinian model, saying Palestinians “deserve it.” ZARA gave a weak apology but took no action.

In 2023, ZARA released an ad campaign showing mannequins wrapped in white shrouds beside crumbled statues. The imagery resembled the shrouded bodies of murdered Palestinians. ZARA deleted the ad after backlash, but issued only a hollow statement saying it “regretted the misunderstanding.”

This is not misunderstanding. It is disrespect. It is dehumanization. And it is part of a long line of silence from ZARA when it comes to Palestinian lives.

ZARA Stayed Silent as Designers Were Killed

In December 2024, Israel bombed and killed Walaa al-Afranji, one of Palestine’s most beloved fashion designers, along with her husband.

ZARA said nothing.

ZARA said nothing about Gaza’s 4,000-year-old cultural history being destroyed.
ZARA said nothing about the artists, tailors, models, and creative communities being targeted and killed.

Instead, ZARA launched a new global campaign in 2024 featuring Israeli model Sun Mizrahi, who said:

“I am happy to be the Israeli face so identified with our country around the world, especially in such times.”

ZARA chose to use fashion to cover up a genocide.

ZARA’s Crimes Go Beyond Palestine

ZARA is owned by Inditex, a massive fashion company that also owns:

• Massimo Dutti
• Bershka
• Pull & Bear
• Oysho
• Stradivarius
• ZARA Home

Inditex has been linked to labor abuse and workers’ rights violations in other countries as well, including Brazil and Myanmar.

This is not just a local problem. It is a global pattern of exploitation.

ZARA May Face Legal Consequences

According to human rights legal experts, companies that operate in Israel during its genocide may be held accountable.

One report explains:

“Even just doing business in Israel and paying taxes to the government committing genocide may count as silent complicity.”

If a company knows what is happening and stays silent while continuing to profit, it may face legal risks, not just public backlash.

ZARA has been warned.

The BDS Movement Has Officially Endorsed the Boycott

The BDS National Committee, which leads the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for Palestine, has officially called for a boycott of ZARA.

They urge:

• Workers
• Students
• Artists
• Consumers
• Trade unions
• Human rights defenders

To stop supporting ZARA until it ends its partnership with apartheid and genocide.

This campaign is not about fashion. It is about justice.

What You Can Do

Boycott ZARA. Do not shop there. Do not promote them.

Avoid Inditex brands. Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Oysho, Stradivarius, and ZARA Home.

Use Boycat. Track which companies are complicit. Find ethical alternatives. Shop with purpose.

ZARA has made its choice. It chose profit over people. It chose apartheid over humanity.

You have a choice too.

Boycott ZARA. Use Boycat.

Boycat helps you make ethical decisions when you shop. It tells you which companies support injustice, and which ones to support instead.

We are building a new economy. One that values life, dignity, and resistance.

Download the Boycat app today. Use your wallet as a weapon. Stand with Palestine.

Sources

Sources

• BDSmovement.net – Official BDS call to boycott ZARA
• Al Jazeera – ZARA’s ties to Itamar Ben-Gvir
• Middle East Eye – Ben-Gvir campaign hosted by ZARA’s franchise chair
• Qaher Harhash Instagram – Screenshots of racist messages from Vanessa Perilman
• AJ+ – Coverage of ZARA designer’s racist remarks
• Middle East Monitor – ZARA’s controversial “The Jacket” ad
• The National – Analysis of the ad resembling martyr imagery
• Al Jazeera – Killing of Palestinian designer Walaa al-Afranji
• Reuters – Inditex labor violations in Brazil and Myanmar
• Human Rights Watch – Abuse in Inditex supply chains
• SOMO and Al-Haq Legal Report – Corporate complicity in genocide
• Inditex official website – Brand ownership and operations in Israel