Domino’s Pizza was disallowed a spot at the Otago University Students’ Association’s "Tent City" event last week.
It was off the back of the OUSA adopting a Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) position, which is a movement dedicated to building an economic boycott of Israel and developing effective campaigns against companies that "participate in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians".
OUSA president Liam White told the Otago Daily Times as the BDS position was not formally in the constitution, it was a "posture" adopted by the student executive last year.
"It basically said, look, based on this list and from what we’re hearing, OUSA will endeavour to not do business with partners that may be complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
"So that was a position we made. Some people have come to me and said that’s a pretty strong stance, and I actually didn’t think it was."
The BDS official website suggested Domino’s Pizza could be the target of "organic boycott campaigns, not initiated by the BDS movement".
"BDS supports these boycott campaigns because these companies, or their branches or franchisees in Israel, have openly supported apartheid Israel and/or provided generous in-kind donations to the Israeli military amid the current genocide".
The student magazine Critic has reported that the Domino’s van subsequently showed up at the outskirts of the site.
"They then showed up to Tent City. They were asked to leave, because we thought it was extremely unfair to everybody who had paid for a site, for someone to just show up and start giving stuff away for free," Mr White told the ODT.
"I mean, that doesn’t seem fair to anybody."
A Domino’s spokeswoman said the franchise partner had actively participated in the "Tent City" event hosted by the Otago University Students Association (OUSA) for the past few years and had "always enjoyed being part of this vibrant community gathering".
"However, this year, for reasons unknown to Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (DPE), Domino’s Dunedin North was not invited to participate.
"Our local franchise partner is in the business of pizza, not politics.
"He intends to continue to support the students of Otago University, if not at this event, by supplying them with pizza vouchers, student discounts, and employment applications."
Dr David Cumin, co-director of the Israel Institute of New Zealand, said the matter was disappointing.
"We are disappointed that students would discriminate against the state of Israel in this way, and that they would support a campaign that spreads lies and is clearly against Jewish self-determination in any part of their indigenous land."
Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses said she hoped the OUSA's boycott policy was even-handed.
"To the extent OUSA is involved in international political action, we would hope that any boycott policy is applied on the basis of consistent and transparent criteria equally to any state, so that the world’s only Jewish state (where half the world’s Jews are citizens, along with two million Arabs) is not singled out.
"While this may not be the intention, discriminatory policies against Israel usually lead to discrimination against individuals, and we have seen an alarming rise in this in recent months.
"Further, boycotting a New Zealand business that has no role in or impact on Israeli government policies is unlikely to help Palestinians or bring about peace."
