A very simple mobile app: Users can scan a product’s barcode or type in its name. Within seconds they will be informed to what extent the company “supports Israel”. Then ‘No Thanks’ appears on the screen – a call not to buy the product in question. Videos for the app released on TikTok and the X platform (formerly Twitter) mention companies such as Coca-Cola and Nescafé, for example.

The app is available from November 13. It has been downloaded over 100,000 times so far and according to social media feedback, people all over the world are showing interest in the app, from as far away as India and Belgium for example.

It is no longer available on the playstore

But before its use spread to the general public, the application was removed from the Google Playstore. However, if you bypass the app download platform through Google, you can still download it. According to a related investigation by Deutsche Welle there was no special version for iOS, i.e. Apple devices.

But who is behind ‘No Thanks’ and what exactly is the target? And why is the app no ​​longer available on Playstore?

According to information displayed on the app itself, Ahmed Bashbas is the man behind the app. He currently lives in Hungary. In a related question from DW, he stated that he is a Palestinian from Gaza. Basbas writes to DW that he lost his brother “in this massacre” and that his sister died in 2020 because she did not receive timely medical support from Israel. The goal of the boycott is to prevent what happened to him from happening to another Palestinian.

He compiled a list of companies allegedly supporting Israel using the websites “Boycotzionsim” and “Ulastempat”. This list includes world famous companies such as Adidas, McDonald’s, Chanel, Netflix and Apple. Also included are companies from all industries – from food to cosmetics. Some because they jointly launched a campaign after October 7 condemning Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and all forms of hatred and anti-Semitism, others because they invest, for example, in Israeli start-ups or finance “the theft of Palestinian land”.

Criticism of Israel’s policy or anti-Semitism?

The reason the free app is no longer available on the Google Playstore is the proposition “Here you can see if the product in your hands supports the killing of children in Palestine,” Ahmed Bashbas tells DW. The sentence has now been replaced with “Here you can see if the product is on the boycott list or not”. But the description of the app also says that it helps identify the products that support the killing of children in Palestine.

According to experts, this proposal can be interpreted either as criticism of Israel or as anti-Semitic. There is an anti-Semitic saying, “the blood libel,” from the Middle Ages that Jews murdered children to make unleavened bread from their blood on Passover, explains Meron Mendel, director of the Anne Frank Education Center, in an interview with DW .

Ufa Jensen, deputy director of the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism, also believes that this expression could be interpreted as anti-Semitic because it plays on the image of Israel as a child killer.

The other interpretation is that indeed, children in Gaza are being killed by Israeli airstrikes during the war, Mendel said. Since they were not killed deliberately, but died during the war, the statement that a product supports the killing of children in Palestine could be seen as an exaggeration, “as an emotional device”, explains the director of the Anne Frank educational center. Ufa Jensen adds that Hamas also killed children in Israel on October 7. “In a proposal like this, the background is completely absent and it is bellicose,” he explains, noting that of course children also died in Gaza.

What is the goal of the boycott?

The important question, according to Mendel, is what exactly is the goal of boycotting certain products. From October 7 it is clear that not everyone has the same goals: “There are those who want a Palestinian state next to the Israeli state, and there are those who want the destruction of the state of Israel. The question is how to distinguish between these two groups.”

“The means of an economic boycott, the individual decision not to buy products, is initially legitimate,” continues Mendel. According to Jensen, there is also a small minority of left-wing Jews who criticize Israel and support such boycotts.

But the problem that arises for Israel from such a boycott is not of an economic nature, as it is also accompanied by a possible cultural and scientific boycott, Mendel explains. “Progressive forces in Israel, in science, in art, in the peace movement, but also in Europe and North America, are being marginalized and ultimately excluded.” This escalation is achieved gradually through such measures. Instead, the overall goal should be to support peaceful, progressive forces on both sides.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Bashbas’ goal is to make the App available again on the platforms where one can download apps. “No Thanks” is available for free and all profits go to Palestinian organizations that help people in Gaza, Bashbas writes on his app.