Arab Israeli tahini company that donated money to LGBT rights group faces boycott

An Arab Israeli-owned tahini company is facing a backlash after its owner donated to an Israeli LGBT rights group.

Julia Zaher, who owns Al Arz tahini, made a “significant” donation to a rights group called Aguda to create a hotline for Arabic-speaking LGBT Israelis. After Aguda, tweeted appreciation in Arabic and in Hebrew, some Arabs called for a boycott of the popular brand, which produces more than 20 tons of the sesame paste daily in its Nazareth plants. Videos posted to social media showed some shopkeepers trashing Al Arz products.

An Israeli news organization, Israel Hayom, first reported about the saga last week, and an extensive story in the New York Times detailed it for a global audience. Al Arz tahini is distributed globally, with its adherents including the popular Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi.

“We have values that we follow,” Jabr Hejazi, one of the supermarket owners participating in the boycott, told the New York Times. “It’s a simple matter.”

The boycott is actually generating needed support for gay and transgender members of the Arab community, Arab LGBT activists told the newspaper.

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