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McDonald\u2019s is buying its restaurants in Israel<\/a> from a longtime franchisee, hoping to reset sales that have slumped due to boycotts in the region.<\/p>\n The Chicago-based burger giant said Friday it will buy Alonyal Limited, which owns and operates 225 restaurants in Israel. Financial terms weren\u2019t disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the next few months.<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s<\/a> said it would operate the restaurants and retain more than 5,000 employees.<\/p>\n \u201cMcDonald\u2019s remains committed to the Israeli market and to ensuring a positive employee and customer experience in the market going forward,\u201d Jo Sempels, McDonald’s president of international developmental licensed markets, said in a statement,<\/p>\n Alonyal has operated McDonald\u2019s in Israel for more than 30 years. In a statement Friday, Alonyal CEO Omri Padan said the chain is one of the country’s most successful.<\/p>\n But Alonyal also sparked controversy in October when it announced on social media that McDonald’s was providing free meals for Israeli soldiers. The announcement sparked boycotts<\/a> in the Middle East and in Muslim-majority countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. McDonald’s says sales also were impacted<\/a> in countries with large Muslim populations, like France<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSo long as this conflict, this war, is going on … we\u2019re not expecting to see any significant improvement in this,\u201d McDonald\u2019s CEO Chris Kempczinski<\/a> said in February. \u201cIt\u2019s a human tragedy, what\u2019s going on, and I think that does weigh on brands like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n