To boycott Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and other companies that support or profit from Israel’s continued assault on Gaza is commendable, but I’m not sure smashing up a small business because they refuse to stop selling Coca Cola is going to help matters.

In fact, Salahudin Yusuf, the owner of Salah’s kebab shop on Leeds Road, Bradford, had apparently agreed to stop selling Coca Cola, but was then accused of selling it under the counter. This resulted in pro-Palestine protesters turning up to his store and smashing the place up:

🚨NEW: Huge brawl outside a Bradford kebab shop when Pro-Palestine protestors stormed the restaurant, demanding the owner to boycott Coca-Cola

‘Four men, aged 30, 34, 46 and 50, have been arrested in relation to the incident on suspicion of offences including criminal damage,… pic.twitter.com/INpSqqT1Kx

— Unlimited L’s (@unlimited_ls) February 25, 2024

Welp, I’m sure that will teach the multi-billion pound company that is Coca Cola a lesson. Violently enforcing your will on a small business owner who’s probably not happy about the situation in Palestine either, but still needs to sell popular products to make a living and feed his family. You can’t be protesting for peace in Palestine and then go and destroy the livelihood of a shop owner who refuses to boycott Coca Cola, can you?

Besides, how much Coca Cola is being sold all over the country at restaurants, newsagents, pubs etc? Imagine choosing to attack a small independent kebab shop over it. Not usually what you think of when it comes to coke-related kebab shop violence, is it?

By all means stand by your principles and boycott the companies you need to boycott. But that, as with most other things in this life, is the choice of the individual. To lash out violently just reiterates how crazy the world is at the moment, and how desperate people are to find an outlet for their anger and frustration.

To watch Mia Khalifa get into a fight with an Israeli woman at the airport, click HERE.