Pizza Hut Israel rebuked for mocking Barghouti’s fake hunger strike

Pizza Hut International condemned an ad posted by its Israel branch poking fun at Palestinian terrorist Marwan Bargouti for cheating during his hunger strike.

Pizza Hut franchise in Israel posted an ad on its Facebook page Monday ridiculing Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti’s leadership role in a hunger strike that he himself broke, hoping no one would find out.

A recent video shows Barghouti, who is serving several life sentences for multiple acts of terror and murder, secretly eating a candy bar and cookies in his prison cell.  Unaware that he was being filmed, Barghouti can be seen sneaking food into the lavatory, then sitting on the toilet and eating. Thereafter, Barghouti washed up, apparently to remove the evidence.

The ad, posted by Pizza Hut’s branch in Israel, included a banner in a screenshot of the video, asking the hypocritical arch-terrorist in Hebrew, “Barghouti, if you are already going to break the hunger strike, isn’t pizza better?”

The ad expectedly caused an uproar among Palestinians, many of whom called on social media for the pizza chain to be boycotted. In response to the incident, Pizza Hut International released a statement condemning the ad.

“Pizza Hut International apologizes for any offence caused by a recent post on Pizza Hut Israel’s Facebook page,” the statement read. “It was completely inappropriate and does not reflect the values of our brand.”

Pizza Hut International also took punitive action.

“The local franchisee in the country removed it immediately and the relationship with the agency that posted it was terminated, and we truly regret any hurt this may have caused,” the statement added.

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News

Hunger strikeMarwan BarghoutiPalestinian prisonersPizza Hut