Domain Audit - McDonald’s Corporation

Military Audit Phase

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

The audit found no evidence of formal procurement contracts between McDonald’s (corporate, Israeli subsidiary, or franchisee Alonyal) and the Israeli Ministry of Defence or IDF Logistics Directorate. Searches across corporate filings, press reports, NGO databases, and UN reports identified no MoUs, tender awards, or contractual agreements for defence provisioning ¹². The documented support to Israeli security forces took the form of voluntary donations and discount programmes rather than formal defence contracts.

McDonald’s Israel won a tender to operate restaurants in Terminals 1 and 3 of Ben Gurion Airport in 2019, with a bid of NIS 17 million over a 7-year concession ³. This represents a civilian infrastructure contract with a government entity, not a defence procurement contract. No evidence was identified of contracts with the Israel Prison Service or Border Police for catering services ².

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

No public evidence was identified of McDonald’s manufacturing or marketing ruggedised, tactical, mil-spec, or defence-grade variants of its food products. The company operates exclusively in the commercial food service sector with standard consumer-grade offerings.

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

No public evidence was identified of McDonald’s equipment, vehicles, or machinery being used in construction, demolition, or infrastructure projects in occupied territories. The company’s operational footprint in Israel consists entirely of restaurant locations serving civilian customers.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

No evidence was identified of McDonald’s providing components, sub-systems, or raw materials to Israeli defence prime contractors including Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael, or IMI ².

McDonald’s Israel claims to source over 80% of ingredients locally, though specific suppliers are not publicly named ². Prior research suggested Tnuva, Osem, and Coca-Cola Israel as potential suppliers with settlement-related operations, but searches did not confirm a direct supply relationship between McDonald’s Israel and these specific entities.

Coca-Cola Israel (Central Bottling Company) operates a distribution center in the Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone in occupied East Jerusalem ⁴⁵. However, no evidence confirms this facility specifically services McDonald’s Israel restaurants. The supply chain relationship remains unverified.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

In mid-October 2023, following the October 7 events, McDonald’s Israel (Alonyal) announced on social media that it was donating “tens of thousands of meals” to IDF units, police, hospitals, and rescue forces ¹². The company opened five dedicated restaurants for this purpose and delivered approximately 4,000 meals daily in the initial period. Total donations were reported at over 100,000 meals ⁶.

McDonald’s Israel implemented a policy offering a 50% discount to all uniformed security and rescue forces, increased from a prior rate of approximately 15% ⁷⁸. The discount was capped at NIS 75 per day. Documentation shows this policy was still active as of July 2024; no documented end date was identified ⁸.

No evidence was identified of McDonald’s providing services directly to military installations within the West Bank, Golan Heights, or East Jerusalem as formal base services. Services were delivered to “soldiers in the field” and “drafting areas” during the October 2023 mobilization ¹².

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

No public evidence was identified of McDonald’s involvement in manufacturing, integrating, maintaining, or supplying components for lethal or strategic weapons systems. The company operates exclusively in the commercial food service sector.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

No publicly known export licence decisions, arm embargo investigations, or sanctions enforcement actions related to McDonald’s defence trade with Israel were identified.

McDonald’s Malaysia (owned by Gerbang Alaf Restaurants, a Saudi-owned franchise) filed a $1.27 million (RM6 million) lawsuit against BDS Malaysia for defamation in response to boycott campaign activities ⁹. The lawsuit was dropped in April 2024 after mediation. This constitutes a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) action rather than a defence trade regulatory matter.

McDonald’s Corporation filed Form 10-K with the SEC on June 30, 2024, disclosing no material defence-related liabilities or contractual obligations ¹⁰.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

The BDS Movement endorsed a worldwide boycott of McDonald’s following the October 2023 meal donations to IDF forces ¹¹. The campaign cited the donations and discount programmes as grounds for targeting the brand.

McDonald’s Corporation CEO Chris Kempczinski acknowledged in January 2024 that the Israel-Hamas conflict had “meaningfully impacted” business in Middle East and Muslim-majority markets ⁶. The company acquired the Israeli franchisee (Alonyal) in April 2024 ¹².

McDonald’s does not appear in the UN OHCHR Business and Human Rights settlement enterprise database, which lists 158 business entities involved in settlement activities ¹³.

No evidence was found of McDonald’s being specifically named in UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s report A/HRC/59/23 (June 2025) on the “economy of occupation to economy of genocide” ².

Prior to the 2024 acquisition, McDonald’s Israel maintained a policy of refusing to open restaurants in West Bank settlements such as Ariel ¹⁴. However, no explicit corporate policy statement from McDonald’s Corporation confirming ongoing commitment to this policy following the April 2024 acquisition was identified.

End Notes