Pamper Me, a beauty salon in Headingley, has boycotted Israeli products and painted their shop in solidarity with Palestine.
Following the October 7th attacks and the subsequent retaliation from Israeli forces, owner Amara Sangha showed her solidarity with Palestine by transforming the exterior of her shop into the colours of the Palestinian flag.
She did so in response to calls from previous Home Secretary Suella Braverman for the police to clamp down on the use of the Palestinian flag during protests.
She said: “It made me decide to turn my shop into the Palestinian colours.
“I’ll use that as part of my branding and it made me take a step further as well and be more of an advocate.”
She has also joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction scheme where businesses boycott certain products that have financial links to Israel including L’Oréal, one of the leading cosmetic brands in the UK.
It is a cause that is close to her heart. Amara visited Palestine in 2019 with her family and witnessed the conflict herself. She was meant to go again this year but the recent escalation prevented her from doing so.
She said: “We saw the conflict first hand and we saw things that are not necessarily shown on TV.”
On her TikTok page, Amara also announced that she would be donating a proportion of Pamper Me’s proceeds to Palestinian causes.
A passer-by expressed their support for the transformation.
They said: “Its very brave but it just shows that people care and I think that’s great”.
