Faisal bin Abdullah al Rawas, Chairman of Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), has reiterated Oman's stand in Palestine issue describing that the Palestinian cause is the foremost cause for every Arab and Muslim.
He affirmed that Oman has been a steadfast supporter for the cause throughout history and will remain a lifetime supporter of the Palestinian cause.
"However, we need to be clear on our boycott calls and we should know which brands and franchises are affected by the call," he said in an interview to Oman TV.
Al Rawas confirmed that in regards to the franchises of some commercial brands that have been affected by the boycott calls, people need to be clear on certain concepts.
“Big corporations are purely profit-oriented that do not provide any donations for political purposes. Each company has a sole agent in some markets and those agents are the ones who take politically-driven actions. For example, franchises in Israel are supporting the Israeli forces," clarified Al Rawas.
"Looking into the agents of the same commercial brands in the Arab countries, one can find them supporting the Palestinian cause even with much higher contributions. Giving an example, the agent of a boycotted brand has donated $20,000 to the Israeli army. Meanwhile, the agents of the same brand in the Arab countries donated $7 million to the Palestinian people which represented almost 50 times higher of what has been donated to the Israeli army," he said, adding that boycotts shouldn't be harming the local business houses.
Al Rawas pointed out that when we say a commercial brand supports the Israeli troops, we mean that agents are the ones providing the support in certain countries, not all franchises in all the markets.
Commenting on boycott calls of Omani products, Al Rawas said; “The boycott represents a good opportunity for the Omani products. However, I don’t want this opportunity to be tied to a current situation but rather to be a deep-rooted culture. Some say they would support the Omani products only because of the boycott calls and here comes the question, what will you do when those boycott calls are over?”
Al Rawas pinpointed that supporting Omani products should be similar in quality to the international brands if not better. He also stressed that any brand directly supporting the Israeli army should be immediately boycotted.
Concluding the interview, Al Rawas stated that he wanted to make clear that agents of boycotted brand in the Arab countries never supported the Israeli army. He also highlighted that the Palestinian cause needed maximum support from everyone.
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