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Sephora has no plans to open its own stores in Israel, the LVMH-owned beauty retailer said on Wednesday, denying media reports it would launch its first stores in the country later this month, while confirming a partnership with an Israeli retailer.

Sephora Collection, the company’s own beauty brand, has signed a temporary resale agreement with Israeli retailer Glam42, Sephora said in a statement, adding the products would be available in some Glam42 stores in Israel from end-August.

After Israeli media reports about Sephora opening stores, Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X: “Welcome to Israel, Sephora!”

Sephora’s partnership with Glam42 comes as brands doing business in Israel are under pressure from a boycott movement that has grown since Israel began its genocide in Gaza.

“By starting business in Israel, directly or through an Israeli dealer/reseller, particularly under these circumstances, Sephora and its owner LVMH have chosen to deepen their complicity with Israel’s regime of genocide, apartheid and illegal military occupation — at a time when much of the world is moving in the opposite direction, and Israel’s genocidal regime is more isolated than ever,” a BDS spokesperson told The New Arab.

“Glam42, the company reported to be importing Sephora Collection products to the Israeli market, is a major supplier to the Israeli genocidal army, making Sephora even more complicit,” the BDS movement added.

Organisers say Glam42 sells Ahava products, whose production sites are partly located in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank

Palestinians in Gaza say Israel has dropped a new kind of bomb, describing it as a “mini nuke.” Military analysts believe it was likely a thermobaric, or “vacuum,” weapon, a high-intensity explosive that uses oxygen from the air to create a massive fireball and shockwave. The blast can flatten buildings and cause devastation similar to a small nuclear detonation, but without radiation.
Israel has not commented on the reports, and the exact type of munition used remains unconfirmed.