I Am Adding Cameron Mitchell to My Boycott List

If Cameron Mitchell chooses to support the Friends of the Israel Death Forces while Palestinians are being killed, displaced, and devastated, then I believe he should be prepared to answer for that choice. There is nothing “neutral” about supporting an organization whose critics argue that its work contributes to sustaining Israel’s military establishment while Palestinian civilians suffer.

I stand with Baladna: Palestine Society of Columbus and its boycott efforts against businesses and individuals that support or enable Israel’s actions toward Palestinians. Baladna is a newly established, 100% volunteer-run nonprofit organization.

For that reason, I am adding Cameron Mitchell to my boycott list.

You do not get to profit from a community and then demand silence when people criticize your choices. Supporting human rights means speaking up when innocent civilians are suffering. It means saying NO to genocide. NO to ethnic cleansing. NO to the killing and displacement of Palestinians.

Cameron Mitchell is the founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants (CMR), headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company has grown into a major restaurant operation with numerous restaurants throughout Central Ohio. Mitchell has long emphasized his commitment to his profession and to the community he calls home.

That commitment raises an important question: What responsibility does a prominent business leader have when organizations he supports are connected, directly or indirectly, to a government and military accused of grave abuses against Palestinians?

The FIDF describes itself as an organization that provides support for the health, well-being, and education of Israeli soldiers. Critics, including Palestinian advocates, argue that financial support for the organization ultimately helps sustain Israel’s military establishment at a time when Palestinians are enduring death, displacement, destruction, and deprivation.

I cannot separate those realities.

While Palestinians face the destruction of homes, loss of land, displacement, and violence, I believe businesses and their leaders should be held accountable for the organizations they choose to support financially.

A Palestinian woman watches as Israeli forces uproot olive trees from her land in Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian advocates have long argued that the destruction and uprooting of olive trees has harmed Palestinian livelihoods.

Cameron Mitchell Restaurants' support for the FIDF raises serious questions for me about where the company stands when it comes to Palestinian human rights.

Source referenced in the article

We should not look away. We should not excuse suffering. And we should not remain silent when innocent people are killed or forced from their homes.

Looting during armed conflict can constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law, depending on the circumstances. Reports alleging the looting of Palestinian homes by Israeli soldiers therefore deserve serious attention and scrutiny.

On August 25, 2026, a social-media post circulated showing an Israeli soldier posing with what the account identified as cash taken from a Palestinian home.

Source referenced in the article

These reports reinforce my concern about providing financial support to organizations associated with the Israeli military. I believe companies that support such organizations should be willing to explain those decisions publicly.

Former Ohio State University student Enrika Ahmed summed up her position in a Facebook post:

“Cameron Mitchell Restaurants have publicly sponsored Friends of the IDF, an organization that supports Israeli soldiers. At a time when Palestinian civilians in Gaza are facing devastating loss and humanitarian organizations are struggling to provide aid, that sponsorship is deeply unacceptable and very disturbing to me. I will not dine at his restaurants, and I hope you’ll join me!”

Ahmed included the hashtags #notoFIDF, #cameronmitchellrestaurantssupportIDF, and #idfwarcrimes with her post.

Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, one of Central Ohio’s largest restaurant groups, sponsors “Friends of the Israel Defense Forces – Ohio.”

Baladna urges our community to speak out against the normalization of violence against Palestinians and support restaurants that stand for human rights—not the whitewashing of alleged crimes against humanity.

Her position reflects what standing up for human rights means to me: refusing to remain silent when I believe innocent civilians are suffering and when businesses make financial choices that I believe deserve public scrutiny. 

Samira Mohyedidin has a reminder to CMR in a tweet about some of the things besides food, water and medicine that Israel won't allow into Gaza. CMR should have know better!

https://x.com/SMohyeddin/status/2093062931155992603?s=20

So, thank you to Baladna for bringing attention to businesses and individuals whose financial choices deserve public scrutiny.

Cameron Mitchell is now on my boycott list.

Mahmoud El-Yousseph is a Palestinian freelance writer and retired U.S. Air Force veteran. He writes about U.S. foreign policy, Middle Eastern affairs, and justice.