Short answer: As of July 2026, Zara does sell in Israel, but only through an independent local franchise partner (Trimera Brands, part of the Gottex Brands group), not through company-owned stores. Its Spanish parent, Inditex, reports no offices, factories, or R&D operations in Israel and sources its clothing globally rather than from Israel. Zara has not withdrawn from the Israeli market. It kept expanding there, opening its largest-ever Israeli store in February 2025, even as the Palestinian-led BDS movement formally endorsed a Zara boycott in July 2025.
What the record actually shows
Zara is the flagship brand of Inditex, a Spanish company headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia. Understanding how it operates in Israel clears up most of the confusion.
- It runs through a local franchise, not company-owned stores. In Israel, Inditex licenses the Zara name to an independent partner, Trimera Brands (part of the Gottex Brands group, long associated with Canadian-Israeli businessman Joey Schwebel), with Gottex Fashion Ltd of Or Yehuda as importer of record. Decisions made under the "Zara" banner in Israel are the local licensee's, while the Spanish parent has stayed publicly neutral.
- The store count is franchise-run. Across all Inditex brands (Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Zara Home), the group operated 82 stores in Israel at the end of 2024, all under franchise agreements rather than as company outlets, per Ynetnews.
- It expanded during the war, it did not withdraw. On February 27, 2025, Zara opened its largest Israeli store, a roughly 4,500-square-meter flagship at the BIG Fashion Glilot complex near Tel Aviv, operated by its Israeli franchisee, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.
- It briefly closed after October 7, then reopened. Four days into the Israel-Hamas war, Inditex temporarily shut its roughly 84 franchise-run stores in Israel (Zara plus its sister brands) citing the security situation, according to the Times of Israel. The stores later reopened as conditions stabilized.
- No offices, R&D, factories, acquisitions, or donations. Inditex reports no R&D centers, subsidiaries, or offices in Israel, and its supply chain is global (owned factories in Spain and Portugal plus contract manufacturers in Turkey, Morocco, Portugal, Bangladesh, India and China). No reputable reporting shows the company sourcing meaningfully from Israel, and none found corporate donations by Zara or Inditex to either Israeli or Palestinian causes.
Where the boycott talk comes from
Zara appears on BDS and related boycott lists, and on July 28, 2025 the Palestinian BDS National Committee formally endorsed a consumer boycott of Zara and Inditex, citing the brand's continued expansion in Israel through its franchisee (FashionUnited; BDS Movement). It is worth being precise about what actually drove that campaign, because the grievances are about the local franchise and marketing, not verified ownership by the parent company.
The first organized calls to boycott Zara came in October 2022, after Joey Schwebel, chair of the Israeli franchisee, hosted a campaign parlor meeting for far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir at his Raanana home. Inditex was not a party to that event (Haaretz; Middle East Eye).
A year later, in December 2023, Zara pulled its global "The Jacket" ad campaign (mannequins in white wraps amid rubble and broken statues) after critics said the images evoked Gaza's destruction. The company said it regretted the "misunderstanding" and stated the shoot was conceived in July and photographed in September, before the war (NPR; CNN).
Pressure has since come from inside the company as well. In October 2025, Inditex's European Works Council, which represents Zara-group workers across Europe, urged the company to end its Israeli franchise relationship over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Inditex forwarded the request to management but, per the report, had not formally responded (Ynetnews). The takeaway: these are campaign grievances and an internal labor request, not proof that Inditex owns Israeli assets or funds any government.
The bottom line
Zara really does sell in Israel, but through an independent local franchise (Trimera Brands / Joey Schwebel), not company-owned stores, and it has kept expanding there rather than pulling out. Inditex owns no Israeli operations, R&D, or factories and does not notably source from Israel. The brand sits on BDS boycott lists mainly because its Israeli franchise chairman hosted a far-right politician in 2022, because of the 2023 "Jacket" ad controversy, and because it keeps growing in Israel, not because of any verified Israeli ownership or government funding by the company itself. So far, Inditex has stayed publicly neutral and stayed in the market.
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If you want your money to reach Israel without parsing franchise agreements and boycott lists, that is the simplest path. Every piece in our Support Israel collection is made to celebrate Jewish identity and put your purchase behind Israel directly, no fine print required.
Is Zara Israeli?
No. Zara is Spanish. It was founded by Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera in A Coruña in 1975, and belongs to Inditex, the Galician group listed on the Spanish stock exchange. No Israeli company owns it.
Every Zara in Israel is run by someone else. Ynet reported Inditex data showing the group operated 82 stores in Israel as of the end of 2024, all under franchise agreements, meaning local operators hold the licences and Inditex owns none of the shops directly. That structure is why campaigns aimed at the Spanish parent and campaigns aimed at the Israeli stores are pointed at two different companies.
Related
Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
