Economic Audit - Carrefour

Audit phase: Economic Date: 29 June 2026

Supply Chain & Sourcing Relationships

Franchise Structure & Importer of Record

The Israeli operating entity is Global Retail CI Ltd (formerly Yenot Bitan, trading as Carrefour Israel), which acts as the importer of record and sole operator of the Carrefour franchise in Israel ¹²³. Global Retail CI is majority-controlled by Electra Consumer Products (TASE: ECP, 49.49%), with additional ownership held by the Bitan family (Nurit Bitan and Nachum Menachem Bitan, 22.56% each), PHF Group (16.03%), and Phoenix Financial (11.9%) ¹. Carrefour Group France holds no equity stake in Global Retail CI; it licenses its brand and earns franchise royalties under a long-term franchise arrangement ².

Product Import Volume

More than 1,200 Carrefour-branded products are imported into Israel by the franchisee ⁴⁵, with approximately 1,650 SKUs documented as of 2024 ⁶. Electra Consumer Products additionally obtained permission to manufacture some products locally in Israel under the Carrefour brand label ⁷⁸, meaning Carrefour-branded goods are produced within Israel by the Israeli franchisee without direct involvement by Carrefour Group France.

Domestic Supplier Relationships

Carrefour Israel sources from Tnuva, an Israeli food company whose dairy and poultry products originate from West Bank settlements including Almog, Shadmot Mehola, and Kalia (Jordan Valley) and Rosh Tzurim, per Who Profits documentation ¹. Settlement-origin Golan Heights wines are also sold at Yenot Bitan / Carrefour franchise stores ¹.

Settlement Distribution Network

The Yenot Bitan / Shuk Mehadrin franchise structure constitutes an indirect sourcing and distribution channel: Carrefour-branded products reach settlement store shelves via Global Retail CI’s pre-existing distribution network, which predates and is independent of Carrefour Group France’s direct procurement decisions ¹⁹¹⁰. This includes Carrefour-labelled goods available at stores in the West Bank settlements of Ariel, Alfei Menashe, Ma’ale Adumim, Beit El, Modi’in Illit, and Kokhav Ya’akov, as well as in occupied East Jerusalem ¹⁹¹⁰. The franchisee’s online delivery platform additionally serves East Jerusalem settlement blocs, the Modi’in Illit enclave, Givat Ze’ev, and Ma’ale Adumim ¹⁹¹⁰.

Technology Partner Connections

In May 2023, Carrefour Israel announced partnerships with six Israeli technology start-ups as part of Carrefour’s retail innovation programme ¹¹¹². Confirmed partners include Juganu (smart retail technology - cameras, sensors, AI-enabled lighting), which won municipal tenders for work in the West Bank settlements of Beitar Illit and Har Homa, and also conducted a pilot test at a Carrefour Market store in France ¹¹¹². A second confirmed partner is AI21 Labs, an Israeli large-language-model company; AI21 Labs co-CEO Ori Goshen publicly confirmed that its employees participated in Unit 8200-related AI work during IDF reserve duty, and AI21 Labs investors at Pitango have been described as “veterans of the elite technology unit of the IDF” ¹³⁷.

European Sourcing

No public evidence identified of specific Carrefour Group France seasonal procurement contracts with Israeli agricultural suppliers covering counter-seasonal import windows, nor of confirmed direct import relationships between Carrefour Group France’s European stores and named Israeli agricultural exporters such as Mehadrin, Hadiklaim, Galilee Export, or Agrexco successors. France overall is documented as the largest European importer of Israeli fruits and vegetables ¹⁴; whether Carrefour’s European retail operations account for a documented share of that volume on a sourced basis was not confirmed from primary corporate records.

Product Origin, Labeling & Regulatory Compliance

Settlement-Origin Products in Franchise Stores

Products sold under the Yenot Bitan / Mehadrin Market / Carrefour franchise at settlement locations include goods from Tnuva (dairy and poultry originating from West Bank and Golan Heights settlements) and Golan Heights wines ¹. These goods are not documented as being labeled to indicate settlement origin; standard Israeli commercial labeling applies ¹.

EU Labeling Rules

EU regulations adopted in 2015 require that goods produced in Israeli settlements be labeled to indicate settlement origin rather than simply “Produce of Israel” ¹⁴. Researchers inspecting Jordan Valley packing facilities have found produce routinely labeled “Produce of Israel” regardless of actual settlement origin ¹⁴. NGO investigations document a broader industry-wide failure of EU settlement-labeling rules, including within French retail, but do not single out Carrefour’s European operations by name for specific enforcement findings in the period under review ¹⁴.

No Confirmed European Enforcement

No evidence was identified of formal enforcement actions against Carrefour Group’s European stores regarding settlement-origin labeling under EU labeling regulations. No confirmed regulatory enforcement action, customs audit finding, or DEFRA citation specifically naming Carrefour Group France for mislabeled settlement-origin goods sold in its European stores was identified in this review.

Corporate Labeling Position

No published corporate policy by Carrefour Group France specifically addressing the sourcing, labeling, or exclusion of settlement-origin goods was identified in this review. The only documented corporate position on territorial operations is CEO Alexandre Bompard’s repeated statement - made in 2023, 2024, and May 2025 - that “there have never been and there will never be any Carrefour stores in occupied territory” ⁹¹⁴¹⁰. This statement addresses store operations rather than product-origin labeling, and is directly contradicted by documented Carrefour-branded store presence in Maccabim (West Bank) and Neve Ya’akov (occupied East Jerusalem) ⁹¹⁰.

Partial Settlement-Product Withdrawal (2024)

An AFPS note from July 2025 documents that Carrefour took steps to withdraw some products from Israeli settlements during August 2024, though the scope and permanence of this measure remain unclear from available evidence ¹⁵.

OHCHR Database Context

The UN OHCHR settlement business database (A/HRC/60/19, September 2025) listed 158 business enterprises from 11 countries ¹⁶¹⁷. Electra Ltd - an Elco subsidiary in construction and infrastructure, within the same corporate family as franchisee Electra Consumer Products - appeared in the 2020 UN OHCHR settlement database for constructing and maintaining housing, roads, public buildings, universities, and transport infrastructure in illegal settlements ¹⁸¹⁹. Whether Electra Consumer Products, Global Retail CI, or Carrefour Group France appear in their own names in the 2023 or 2025 OHCHR database updates could not be confirmed from the primary UN document in this review ^20161917.

Investment, Capital & Financial Exposure

Capital Deployed at Market Entry

Carrefour Group France invested an amount equivalent to NIS 250 million (approximately $68 million / €62.6 million) in connection with the May 2023 Israeli market launch, per Carrefour press releases and Israeli media ⁴²¹. The precise mechanism is not fully confirmed from primary corporate filings; BCLP characterised the arrangement as a “long-term franchise arrangement” rather than a direct equity acquisition ², and Carrefour Group France holds no identified equity stake in Global Retail CI Ltd. The franchisee had cumulative capital expenditure of NIS 425 million as of mid-2025 and operates 170,000 square metres of retail space across 148 branches ²².

No Direct Asset Holdings

No Carrefour Group France factories, data centres, logistics hubs, or real estate holdings directly in Israel or the occupied territories were identified. Operational investment is held exclusively at the franchisee level.

Financing from OHCHR-Listed Israeli Banks

Global Retail CI secured loans from four major Israeli banks in early 2023 - Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot, and Israel Discount Bank - all of which are documented in the UN OHCHR settlement database as providing banking services that support settlement construction and maintenance ⁷¹. Bank Hapoalim additionally entered a credit-card customer-club partnership with Electra Consumer Products / Carrefour Israel in August 2022, through Israel Credit Cards Ltd (CAL) ⁷.

Technology & Start-Up Partnerships

Carrefour Israel’s six start-up partnership programme (May 2023) included AI21 Labs and Juganu as confirmed participants ¹¹¹². No dedicated Carrefour Group R&D centre or innovation lab physically located in Israel was identified; these are documented as commercial collaboration agreements rather than physical R&D installations ¹¹.

Israeli Capital Markets Exposure

No publicly disclosed holdings by Carrefour Group France in Israeli sovereign bonds, Israeli-domiciled companies, or Israel-focused investment funds were identified in this review. No evidence that Carrefour Group France underwrites Israeli war bonds or Israel Bonds instruments was found. The franchisee IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was under active consideration as of June 2023, with a target valuation in excess of NIS 800 million ²³; no evidence of an actual listing was identified.

Shareholder Structure of Carrefour Group France

Carrefour Group France (Euronext Paris: CA) is not majority-controlled by Israeli capital ²⁴. As of 31 December 2024, major shareholders include: Galfa SAS (11.01%), Peninsula Europe (9.23%), the Moulin family via Motier and related holding vehicles (approximately 12–13%), and Arnault/Agache (approximately 5–8%) ²⁴. None of these major shareholders have been identified as Israeli-domiciled entities or as holders of documented material stakes in Israeli companies. No public evidence identified of material personal or family-office investments by Carrefour Group France’s CEO, board, or controlling shareholders specifically in Israeli companies.

Group-Level Financial Context

Carrefour Group total net profit was €1.659 billion (FY2023), declining to €723 million (FY2024, −56%), and approximately $361 million (FY2025, −54%), per MacroTrends, Nasdaq data, and Carrefour’s own published disclosures ^25262728. The BDS Movement attributes a material portion of this decline to boycott effects ²⁹⁷, though simultaneous market exits from Italy, Argentina, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait - the last four explicitly boycott-driven per Majid Al Futtaim disclosures - are compounding factors ³⁰³¹³².

Operational Presence & Market Activity

Scale of the Israeli Franchise

As of March 2026, the Carrefour franchise network in Israel comprises approximately 148 branches operated under the Carrefour brand by Global Retail CI Ltd, plus residual Yenot Bitan and Mehadrin Market branches undergoing rebranding ²²⁹¹⁰. The network employs approximately 4,000 people ²². Israel was marketed by Carrefour as the 50th country in which it operates ⁴⁵.

Stores Confirmed Within Occupied Territories (as of March 2026)

Carrefour-branded stores operated by Global Retail CI:

• Maccabim / Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut - situated in the West Bank outside the Green Line ¹⁹¹⁰
• Neve Ya’akov - occupied East Jerusalem settlement neighbourhood ¹⁹¹⁰

Yenot Bitan-branded stores operated by the same franchisee:

• Ariel - West Bank settlement ¹⁹¹⁰
• Alfei Menashe - West Bank settlement ¹⁹¹⁰
• Ma’ale Adumim - West Bank settlement ¹⁹¹⁰
• Kokhav Ya’akov - West Bank settlement ⁹¹⁰

Mehadrin Market-branded stores operated by the same franchisee:

• Beit El - West Bank settlement ¹
• Modi’in Illit - West Bank settlement ¹⁹¹⁰

The franchisee’s online delivery platform additionally serves East Jerusalem settlement blocs, the Modi’in Illit enclave, Givat Ze’ev, and Ma’ale Adumim ¹⁹¹⁰.

High-Level Political Endorsement at Launch

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally attended and opened the first Carrefour store in Israel at Beit Shemesh on 8 May 2023, alongside Economy Minister Nir Barkat, calling it “a huge achievement” ⁴³³. BCLP, which advised Carrefour on the deal, described the entry as placing Carrefour as “the largest international retailer to enter Israel” and characterised it as “a significant step in Israel’s retail history” ². Carrefour Group’s own press materials positioned Israel as a strategic franchise-expansion market and celebrated the 50-store simultaneous launch ³⁵.

West Bank Expansion Negotiations

In August 2023, Haaretz reported that Carrefour was in active negotiations to extend its franchise specifically to the West Bank and East Jerusalem ³⁴, a development that subsequently materialised as documented above ⁹¹⁰.

Operational Difficulties - Early Period

The franchisee’s early financial difficulties were reflected in the departure of Carrefour Israel’s founding CEO in October 2023, viewed by industry observers as a significant indicator of the challenges facing the new operation ³⁵. FY2023 net loss reached NIS 188 million, with debt-servicing costs weighing heavily on the P&L ⁶.

COGAT Service Contract

Global Retail CI (operating as the Carrefour franchisee) provides food and beverages to COGAT - the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli military administrative body responsible for the occupied West Bank and Gaza - with documented 2024 payments recorded by Who Profits and DBIO research ¹⁷³⁶.

Soldier Support (October 2023)

In October 2023, following the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, Carrefour Israel provided more than 6,000 food care packages to Israeli soldiers; one franchise branch also collected donations of cigarettes for troops ³⁷³⁸. CEO Bompard attributed these actions to “individual initiatives” by store employees rather than corporate policy ³⁸.

Boycott Mobilisation

In February 2024, a Palestine emergency collective demand for a boycott of Carrefour stores was launched by civil-society organisations, citing the company’s reported support for Israel during the war on Gaza ³⁹. Demonstrations were held at Carrefour stores in France in February 2024, over the alleged provision of food to Israeli soldiers and operations in illegal settlements ³⁸. The BDS National Committee launched a formal Boycott Carrefour campaign, citing the franchise’s presence in Israeli settlements ⁷.

“Israeli Basket” Programme (April 2026)

In April 2026, the Israeli Ministry of Economy selected Carrefour as the sole participant in the government-funded “Israeli Basket” cost-of-living programme, committing to sell 100 consumer products at NIS 1,098 (versus a market average of approximately NIS 1,700) across 50 branches and online for six months, in exchange for NIS 50 million in Israeli state advertising funding ⁴⁰⁴¹. A Tel Aviv University study subsequently found that consumers paid more for non-basket products during the programme period ⁴¹. The programme explicitly excluded West Bank settlement branches, a detail that became the subject of political controversy in Israel, with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett publicly accusing the Netanyahu government of “boycotting” its own settlements through the arrangement ⁴⁰.

Boycott-Driven Market Exits

Boycott pressure linked to Carrefour’s Israeli franchise drove successive market exits across the Arab world: Jordan (closure of all Carrefour branches announced in late 2024) ⁴²⁴³; Bahrain and Kuwait (exits announced September 2025) ³¹; and at least two additional Middle Eastern franchise markets (September 2025) ³⁰. By October 2025, the Carrefour name had disappeared from Arab franchise stores as Majid Al Futtaim rebranded them under alternative formats ³².

UN Special Rapporteur Citation

Multiple civil-society and NGO sources confirm that the UN Special Rapporteur’s report A/HRC/59/23 (Francesca Albanese, 2 July 2025) - covering the economy of occupation - cites Carrefour in the context of settlement retail activity, specifically in connection with the conversion of the Maccabim store to the Carrefour brand ^9147294445. The specific paragraph number could not be extracted, as the PDF was not machine-readable in this review; the UNISPAL and OHCHR landing pages confirm publication on 2 July 2025 ⁴⁴⁴⁵.

Corporate Structure & Foundational Ties

Founding & Incorporation

Carrefour Group SA is a French multinational incorporated in France, founded in 1958 in Annecy ⁴⁶. It is not Israeli-founded and has no Israeli-origin corporate identity. It entered Israel in 2022–2023 exclusively through a franchise model, not through the acquisition of an Israeli operating entity ³.

The Franchisee Corporate Chain

The Israeli operating entity, Global Retail CI Ltd (formerly Yenot Bitan), is Israeli-founded, Israeli-incorporated, and was acquired by Electra Consumer Products in 2021 ⁴⁷¹. Electra Consumer Products (TASE: ECP) is itself a subsidiary of Elco Ltd, an Israeli conglomerate controlled by the Salkind brothers ⁴⁷¹. Global Retail CI operates under the Carrefour brand via franchise; Carrefour Group France does not own it ²³.

Elco Group - Settlement & Defence Connections

Electra Ltd - a separate Elco subsidiary in construction and infrastructure, within the same corporate family as franchisee Electra Consumer Products - appeared in the 2020 UN OHCHR settlement database for constructing and maintaining housing, roads, public buildings, universities, and transport infrastructure in illegal Israeli settlements ¹⁸¹⁹. Electra Power (formerly Supergas), another Elco sibling subsidiary, has been documented as the exclusive gas supplier to the Israel Defense Forces and the country’s Police and Prison systems for many years ¹⁸.

State & Political Linkages

The “Israeli Basket” programme (April 2026) constitutes a formal state–commercial partnership between the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Carrefour’s franchisee, with NIS 50 million in Israeli public funds disbursed ⁴⁰⁴¹. Prime Minister Netanyahu personally inaugurated the flagship Carrefour store opening in May 2023, characterising it as “a huge achievement” ⁴³³. Carrefour Group’s own press materials positioned Israel as a deliberate strategic franchise-expansion market ³⁵.

Board-Level Review

Stéphane Israël served as Lead Independent Director and Chair of the Carrefour Group Board Audit Committee from 2018 until his resignation effective 6 January 2025 ²⁴. No documented Israeli-state or Israeli-economy ties were identified for this individual in this review; the surname coincidence is noted but no substantive connection was established. No evidence identified of golden shares, founder shares, charter restrictions, or governance mechanisms specifically tying Carrefour Group France’s operations or mission to the Israeli state or its policy objectives. The relationship is a commercial franchise arrangement.

Civil Society & Labour Documentation

Carrefour appears in the DBIO 2024 company list among approximately 51 documented companies ⁴⁸. The DBIO 2025 report documents Carrefour in the context of settlement store operations at Maccabim and Neve Ya’akov, and the COGAT food and beverage services contract ³⁶¹. The April–May 2026 joint civil-society report signed by Al-Haq and six additional organisations characterised Carrefour as deepening its complicity with the Israeli settlement enterprise ^914104950. French trade union federations CGT and Solidaires, and the human rights organisation LDH, co-signed the April 2026 report ¹⁰⁴⁹⁵⁰. The BDS campaign characterises Carrefour’s deepening Israeli presence as occurring even as global BDS pressure grows ahead of shareholders’ meetings ²⁹.

Profit Repatriation & Economic Contribution

Revenue Attribution

Carrefour Group France does not separately disclose Israel as a named market in its consolidated financial statements; Israel operates as a franchised territory within the “other countries” or “franchised partners” category ⁴⁶²⁸. Global Retail CI (the Israeli franchisee) reported FY2024 revenue of NIS 3.34 billion (approximately €830 million at prevailing rates), a 10% increase from FY2023, against a net loss of NIS 113 million; long-term lease obligations stood at approximately NIS 2 billion with debt-servicing costs of NIS 180 million ⁶. FY2023 net loss was NIS 188 million; the 9-month 2023 net loss was NIS 148 million ⁵¹⁵². The first quarterly net profit for the franchisee - NIS 5 million - was recorded in Q2 2025, with Q2 2025 revenue of NIS 840 million (up 3.4% year-on-year) and operating profit of NIS 52 million ²².

Royalty & Licensing Flows

To the extent the Israeli franchise generates royalties and licensing fees, these flow from Global Retail CI to Carrefour Group France - outward from Israel rather than into the Israeli economy. The quantum of royalty flows is not disclosed in any publicly accessible filing identified in this review ⁴⁶.

Profit Flows Within the Franchisee

To the extent Global Retail CI generates operating profit, it flows to its Israeli shareholders: Electra Consumer Products (49.49%, TASE: ECP), the Bitan family (22.56% each for Nurit Bitan and Nachum Menachem Bitan), PHF Group (16.03%), and Phoenix Financial (11.9%) ¹⁴⁷. Electra Consumer Products resumed dividend payments in 2024, distributing NIS 40 million to shareholders following a return to group-level net profitability of NIS 52 million, after recording a net loss of NIS 101 million in 2023 ⁶.

State Subsidy Transfer

The NIS 50 million Israeli state advertising subsidy disbursed under the “Israeli Basket” programme (April 2026) constitutes a direct transfer of Israeli public funds to the Carrefour franchise operation ⁴⁰⁴¹. A Tel Aviv University study found that the programme’s stated price-competition benefits were partially offset by higher prices on non-basket products during the programme period ⁴¹.

Sector Significance

BCLP characterised Carrefour as “the largest international retailer to enter Israel,” consistent with the Group occupying a strategically significant position in Israeli food retail competition ². Netanyahu’s government promoted Carrefour’s entry as a tool for cost-of-living reform, with the Prime Minister personally attending the flagship opening ⁴³³⁴⁰. Israel’s identification as Carrefour’s 50th country of operation signals its deliberate integration into the Group’s long-term geographic expansion strategy ⁴⁵.

Group-Level Financial Pressure

Carrefour Group total net profit: €1.659 billion (FY2023) → €723 million (FY2024, −56%) → approximately $361 million (FY2025, −54%) ^25262728. The BDS Movement attributes a material portion of the decline to boycott effects across the Arab world and in France ²⁹⁷, while sequential closures in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and additional Middle Eastern markets - explicitly linked by Majid Al Futtaim to boycott pressure - are compounding structural factors ^3031324243.

End Notes