Political Audit: Homebase

Audit Phase: Political Audit Target Note: Web research identified two distinct commercial entities trading as “Homebase” with no corporate relationship to one another: (1) Homebase (UK) Limited, a home-improvement/DIY retail chain, and (2) Homebase, Inc., a San Francisco-headquartered workforce-scheduling/HR software company. Because the audit brief does not specify which entity is intended, both were checked, and findings below are organized by entity where evidence exists.

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

No public evidence identified of any official statement, press release, or executive social-media post by either Homebase entity - the UK DIY retailer or the US HR/scheduling software company - addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict, Gaza, or the October 2023 escalation; corporate press pages, company blogs, and leadership channels for both entities were checked against the two entities’ documented public profiles ¹². No public evidence identified of comparative statements by either entity on Ukraine, Black Lives Matter, or COVID-19 that would allow a documented pattern of selective political engagement to be assessed. No public annual report, 10-K, or investor communication was located for either entity framing Middle East or Israel-related operations as a strategic or geopolitical partnership; Homebase, Inc. is privately held and does not publish a 10-K, and Homebase (UK retailer) discloses no Israel-specific operations in its available corporate history ³⁴.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Neither Homebase entity appears by name in UN or civil-society tracking of businesses linked to Israeli settlement activity; a September 2025 update to the OHCHR database of businesses involved in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank listed 158 enterprises (138 Israeli, 12 European, 6 American, 1 Canadian, 1 Chinese), and neither “Homebase” entity was identified in press coverage or dataset mirrors of that list ⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹.

Homebase (UK retailer)‘s own website currently (2026) lists and sells Keter-branded garden storage and shed products as a stocked third-party brand ¹⁰. Keter Group is an Israeli-headquartered manufacturer (Herzliya) that Who Profits documented as having operated a factory in the Barkan settlement industrial zone in the West Bank, with visual evidence obtained by Who Profits in November 2016 indicating Keter had ceased its West Bank operations following boycott pressure that began around 2013–2014; this is reported as a historical, discontinued settlement-manufacturing link rather than an ongoing Homebase-settlement nexus ^11121314.

SodaStream products, including spare gas cylinders and concentrate, are listed for sale through Homebase UK retail channels, and Homebase is listed as a SodaStream stockist and cylinder-exchange point ¹⁵. SodaStream is an Israeli company, now a PepsiCo subsidiary, whose principal manufacturing plant was located in the Mishor Adumim settlement industrial zone in the West Bank until its relocation to Israel’s Negev region in 2015 following a sustained international boycott campaign; this relocation predates the current period, and SodaStream’s settlement manufacturing is documented as discontinued since 2015 ¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸.

In November 2025, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) sent letters to “four major UK-based suppliers” warning of legal exposure for continuing to stock SodaStream products; the ICJP announcement does not name the four retailers, and no available source identifies Homebase as one of them ¹⁹.

No public evidence identified of an organized boycott, divestment, or sanctions campaign targeting Homebase (either entity) by name; the boycott campaigns identified in available reporting target the manufacturers Keter and SodaStream directly, rather than Homebase as a downstream retailer stocking their products ¹³¹⁷²⁰. Direct in-platform queries of the Who Profits and AFSC Investigate corporate-complicity databases did not return a Homebase-specific entry on either platform, though these databases’ documented scope is company- and product-specific rather than retailer/stockist-specific ¹¹²¹.

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

No public evidence identified of HR enforcement actions, disciplinary measures, or union disputes involving staff of either Homebase entity over Israel-Palestine-related speech, symbols, or workplace organizing. No public evidence identified of platform or editorial moderation policy relevant to this domain; neither Homebase entity operates a consumer content or media platform subject to algorithmic-moderation scrutiny of the kind associated with this sub-category. No public evidence identified of any regulatory action, mislabeling complaint, or country-of-origin dispute specifically naming Homebase in connection with Keter or SodaStream product labeling or sourcing; the only documented supply-chain facts are the current stocking relationships themselves and the historical, now-discontinued settlement-manufacturing history of those two supplier brands ^10151217.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

No public evidence identified that either Homebase entity uses military heritage, defense-sector ties, or state-security origin narratives in its branding or marketing; Homebase, Inc.’s founding narrative (John Waldmann and Rushi Patel, 2014–2015, as a restaurant and retail workforce-scheduling tool) contains no military or defense-sector origin ³¹. No public evidence identified of state honors received, hosted government officials, formal academic or government partnerships, or “Brand Israel”-type sponsorship activity by either entity.

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

No public evidence identified of FEC, OpenSecrets, US Lobbying Disclosure Act, or UK lobbying-register filings under either “Homebase” entity name related to Israel/Palestine policy, trade legislation, or anti-BDS advocacy. No public evidence identified of corporate donations or sponsorships by either entity to the IDF, Friends of the IDF (FIDF), JNF/KKL, Lev Echad, Regavim, Im Tirtzu, or comparable military-welfare or settlement-support organizations. No public evidence identified of either entity directing logistics, free services, cloud credits, or infrastructure support to Israeli state, military, or state-aligned NGO efforts during the current conflict.

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Homebase (UK retailer)‘s founding documents and ownership structure show a standard commercial joint-venture retail origin - founded 1981 as a Sainsbury’s/GB-Inno-BM joint venture - with no golden-share or state-linked governance structure at any point in its ownership chain, which passed through Schroder Ventures, Home Retail Group/GUS, Wesfarmers (2016–2018), and Hilco Capital (2018–2024) before the company entered administration on 13 November 2024 and its brand, IP, and roughly 70 stores were acquired by CDS Superstores ^2222324. Homebase, Inc. is a conventional venture-capital-backed US private company headquartered in San Francisco, founded in 2014, whose investors include L Catterton, Emerson Collective, Notable Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Baseline Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Bedrock Capital, and PLUS Capital ¹⁴. No evidence identified tying either entity’s corporate charter or mission to advancing any state’s geopolitical or infrastructure goals.

Executive & Leadership Footprint

No public evidence identified of personal donations, family-foundation grants, or fundraising activity by Homebase, Inc. co-founders John Waldmann or Rushi Patel; by Paul McGowan, Executive Chairman of Hilco Capital (former Homebase UK owner) ²⁵; or by Chris Dawson, founder of CDS Superstores/The Range and the current owner of the Homebase UK brand ²³, toward FIDF, JNF, or comparable organizations. No public evidence identified of statements, op-eds, or social-media activity by these individuals regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. No public evidence identified of these individuals holding board seats or advisory roles in pro-Israel/anti-BDS advocacy organizations (e.g., CFI, AIPAC, ADL, USISTF) or in settlement-linked bodies. Research also distinguished John Waldmann (Homebase, Inc. CEO) from Eyal Waldman, an unrelated Israeli technology entrepreneur and former Habana Labs/Mellanox executive who has documented public commentary on the Israel-Palestine conflict; No public evidence identified of any relationship between the two individuals or of any connection between Eyal Waldman and either Homebase entity.