Does Sephora Support Israel or Palestine?

Noa Cohen Nov 15, 2024 Updated Jul 26, 2026 4 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, Sephora has no official corporate position on Israel or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it has never operated retail stores in Israel. The company is not named on the BDS movement's official targeted-boycott list. It does draw boycott calls from both directions: pro-Palestinian activists point to its ownership by French luxury group LVMH (whose chairman, Bernard Arnault, has invested in Israeli tech firms), while others have pressed it to drop Sephora-stocked brands owned by pro-Palestinian figures. Through all of it, Sephora has stayed silent and framed itself as apolitical.

What the record actually shows

To read Sephora's Israel ties accurately, it helps to separate three layers that viral posts tend to blur: the company's own operations, its parent company, and the brands it stocks.

March 2011, a sourcing visit, not a store opening. Senior Sephora executives made the chain's first official visit to Israel to meet about 15 Israeli cosmetics makers about carrying their products globally. The report explicitly noted the chain had no plans to open stores in Israel. (Ynetnews)
June 2019, the shipping comment. After a customer asked on Instagram whether Sephora ships to Israel, an account reply said the company does not ship to Palestine, which sparked backlash. Sephora clarified the next day that its US site ships to neither Israel nor Palestine, and said the exchange was about shipping capabilities, not politics. (Jewish Journal)
November 2021, a parent-company investment. Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH (Sephora's parent), invested through his Aglae Ventures arm in the Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz. This LVMH-owner tie to Israeli tech is the main documented basis pro-Palestinian campaigns cite when linking Sephora to Israel. (The Times of Israel)
November 2023, pressure from the other side. Sephora faced online backlash, but this time activists demanded it drop Sephora-stocked brands owned by pro-Palestinian figures (SimiHaze, Huda Beauty) over their statements. Sephora made no public statement in response. (Newsweek)
2024, a Gulf retail footprint, not an Israeli one. Sephora's physical Middle East stores sit in the Gulf (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman) through the Chalhoub Group, with no Israeli locations. (Gulf Business)

Notice what is missing from that record: no Israeli stores, no Israeli R&D center, no company donations to either side, and no official statement on the conflict. The one real link runs one level up, through LVMH and Arnault, not through Sephora's own balance sheet.

Where the boycott talk comes from

Sephora's name circulates on boycott lists, so it is worth being precise about what is and is not true. As of July 2026, Sephora is not listed among the BDS movement's official targeted-boycott companies. It appears instead on independent, activist-run boycott guide websites that rope in brands mainly by corporate association, largely through LVMH and through a handful of stocked brands. (The Witness) That is exactly the kind of secondhand listing that tends to overreach, so a name showing up on such a site is not the same as an organized BDS target, and it is not an admission of anything by the company.

The parent-company link is the real, documented one. Arnault's venture arm backed the Israeli firm Wiz, and that LVMH-level investment is what most pro-Palestinian appeals actually point to when they connect the Sephora umbrella to Israel. On the product shelf, Sephora carries brands with a range of stances, which is why it has taken heat from both directions: some carried brands have Israeli or Jewish-owned ties, while others are owned by outspoken pro-Palestinian figures such as Huda Beauty and SimiHaze.

One more correction worth making: despite a common claim, there is no verified evidence Sephora currently offers direct international shipping into Israel. Sephora's own 2019 statement was that its US website ships to neither Israel nor Palestine.

The bottom line

Sephora keeps a deliberately apolitical posture: no stores in Israel, no official statement on the conflict, and no place on the formal BDS target list. The Israel connections people find are real, but they sit one level up, at parent company LVMH and chairman Bernard Arnault, whose fund invested in the Israeli firm Wiz, plus a mix of Sephora-stocked brands that lean in different political directions. If your question is does Sephora itself support Israel, the accurate answer is that it has taken no public side. The ties are corporate-ownership and product-shelf associations, not a company stance.

Support Israel directly

If you would rather your money land somewhere unambiguous, you do not have to decode a multinational's ownership chart. You can support Israel directly with products made by and for people who stand with the country, from apparel to jewelry to gifts. It is a simple way to turn a values question into a values purchase, with no corporate hedging in between.

Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.