The mounting violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have spurred on global calls for boycott.
Local calls for a boycott of popular French patisserie in Qatar were swiftly answered after Doha Oasis management announced the permanent closure and contract termination with the owner of of Maître Choux due to his staunch support of Israel, as the regime continues to unleash one of history’s worst massacres on Palestinians.
French founder Jeremie Vaislic drew condemnation last week after publicly writing provocative pro-Israel and racist messages on his Instagram account as well as displaying xenophobic sentiments.
Vaislic shared a video of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) who had kidnapped and tied up what appeared to have been Palestinian civilians in the back of the car, whilst simultaneously playing loud music and laughing.
“IDF military playing music for the terrorists in the trunk” he wrote, adding three laughing emojis.
Taking his controversial stances beyond Palestine, Vaislic also exhibited xenophobic sentiments.
In response to local calls for the removal of his bakery in Qatar, Vaislic sarcastically wrote: “Qatari hospitality is unparalleled”.
In another post, he shared another screenshot of residents calling for the removal of his bakery and said “I am famous in Qatar,” and described calls for boycott as “abusive”.
“The level of hate in that part of the world is just [insert of a mind blown emoji],” he added.
In another story, Vaislic shared a screenshot of an exchange between himself and a local, who had taken the time to explain why Qatar residents want his bakery removed.
In the conversation, Vaislic responded to her with: “First of all, I don’t need you to like my posts, my business, or myself.
“Second, if for whatever reason you think you have a moral high ground, maybe you need to take a closer look at your values and at your sources. Third, I haven’t seen any apologies from the people YOU support regarding the 1500 massacred on October 7th, among them babies, women, pregnant women, holocaust survivors, etc,” he wrote.
“So why don’t you keep your pseudo threats and let people who have no care about you whatsoever live in peace and stop trolling on Instagram. Surely you have better things to do with your life.”
Initial fabrications of a ‘wholescale massacre’ cited by Israel have been challenged by figures from Haaretz, revealing that nearly half of the Israelis killed that day were combatants, such as soldiers or police.
Such misreporting in Western media has heavily contributed to heightened tensions and provided a backdrop for Israel’s military actions in Gaza, where thousands have been killed.
Since the start of the war, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have killed at least 7,326 people, including at least 3,038 children and 1,726 women—both of which represent around 70% of the overall casualties.
As of 23 October, Haaretz published data on 683 Israelis killed in the Hamas-led offensive, with 48.4% confirmed as soldiers or police, some of whom were female, while others included rescue service members, leaving 339 as purported civilians.
After sharing the conversation on his story, Vaislic continued to add more commentary saying, “Social experiment: What happens when people educated on propaganda with no freedom of speech, no free press and no perspective don’t like being faced with the fact that their entire understanding of geopolitics is a house of cards: bullying, harassment, and boycott.”
Mounting misinformation
Despite the deadly Israel war on Gaza, Palestinians have faced a barrage of ridicule across much of the Western media, largely fed by false news.
US President Joe Biden unleashed doubt at the mounting death toll after suggesting he has no confidence in the Palestinian health ministry’s reporting of numbers.
“What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” Biden claimed.
“(The) Israelis should be incredibly careful to be sure that they’re focusing on going after the folks that (are) propagating this war against Israel. And it’s against their interest when that doesn’t happen,” he added.
Biden also faced backlash days earlier after parroting Israeli allegations of beheaded babies despite no evidence for the claims.
Biden claimed he had seen “confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,” before the White House then backtracked on his statement.
Meanwhile, Meta and X received backlash for blocking prominent Palestinian news page ‘Eye on Palestine’ on Wednesday, a move that has been widely described as another attempt to suppress the Palestinian narrative in light of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
Eye on Palestine is the largest Palestinian social media account with more than six million followers on Instagram alone and has continuously exposed Israel’s ongoing crimes against Palestinians, especially the latest war on Gaza.
The mounting violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have spurred on global calls for boycott.
“Highlighting the stores that back Zionist sources holds significance, especially now,” Qatari resident, Shamma Alhajri, who had rallied against the French-owned bakery told Doha News.
“Their financial stability relies on our spending, and we’re completely confident that boycotting them will further diminish their economic support for the areas affected in occupation Palestine. Palestine is my case until freedom is granted and it will God willing,” she added.
Last week, the Qatari partner of another popular cafe that faced a similar controversy ended his partnership with the owner of the establishment in a show of solidarity with Palestinians.
Pura Vida Miami, previously located on Al Maha Island, faced a wave of boycott calls after its CEO made pro-Israel remarks as Tel Aviv launched a deadly bombardment on Gaza.
Omer Horev shared an image of the Israeli flag with the slogan: “Now and always, we stand with the people of Israel!”
The Qatari public quickly responded on social media with calls to boycott his company Pura Vida. Some called the branch’s opening in Doha as “a betrayal of the cause of the Islamic nation” while others slammed Horev’s posts as “audacious”.
UN chief in Qatar
Meanwhile, Israel carried out its heaviest bombardment on the besieged Strip on Friday after cutting off communications in Gaza.
In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it “is highly alarmed by widespread reports of a communications blackout in Gaza.” The independent organisation said it “documented the deadliest period for journalists covering conflict” since it started tracking the figures in 1992.
Mark Regev, an adviser to the regime’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News that Israel is “beefing up the pressure” on Hamas.
Speaking in Qatar on Saturday, UN Secretary General confirmed he was meeting with Qatari Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Guterres said he arrived to Doha to express “our full gratitude, appreciation and support for Qatar’s tireless mediation initiatives, namely for the release of the hostages kept in Gaza”.
“I was encouraged by what seemed to be a growing consensus for the need of at least a humanitarian pause in the Middle East,” he said in a post on X.
“Regrettably, instead I was surprised by an unprecedented escalation of bombardments, undermining humanitarian objectives.”