Pizza Hut fires Israeli PR firm that mocked Barghouti’s fake hunger strike

Pizza Hut has fired an Israeli advertising firm responsible for a Facebook ad that mocked Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti for cheating during his hunger strike.

Pizza Hut apologized and fired an advertising firm responsible for an Israeli Facebook ad that mocked the leader of hunger-striking Palestinians terrorists held in Israeli prisons.

The ad on Pizza Hut Israel’s Facebook page was deleted, and the parent company said in a statement that the post was “completely inappropriate.”

The ad attempted to make light of Marwan Barghouti, the leader of the hunger strike.

Barghouti, 58, is serving five life terms for the murder of five Israelis.

Barghouti is demanding better conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, while Israel has dismissed the strike as Barghouti’s attempt to raise his political profile on the Palestinian street.

On Sunday, Israel’s Prison Service (IPS) released a video showing Barghouti secretly snacking on a candy bar and on cookies, exposing his strike to be a facade.

Pizza Hut then published a Facebook post with a pizza box superimposed on Barghouti’s bed asking if he would rather have broken his hunger strike with a pizza.

Erez Rubenstein, a partner at the Israeli advertising company behind the ad, confirmed his firm was dismissed and said the Facebook post was regrettable in hindsight. “We didn’t mean to offend anybody,” he said.

Pizza Hut International’s statement came in response to a Twitter campaign to boycott the company, which operates in Israel and around the Arab world.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Committee called off its boycott of Pizza Hut after accepting the apology.

By: AP and United with Israel Staff

Hunger strikeIPSMarwan BarghoutiPalestinian prisonersPizza Hut