Of course this happened in the Bay Area. Jerusalem coffee shop in Oakland is owned by Palestinians. The shop made news back in 2024 when one of the owners attempted to force a man and his 5-year-old son to leave because the man was wearing a hat with a Jewish star on it. The man refused and police were called. Here’s video of the incident that led to multiple lawsuits and, this week, a closure of the shop.
🚨 BREAKING: LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST OAKLAND’S ANTISEMITIC COFFEE SHOP
Jerusalem Coffee House—which named a drink after Yahya Sinwar—is now facing a civil rights lawsuit after kicking out a Jewish father and his son for being Jewish.
On October 26, 2024, Jonathan Hirsch and his… pic.twitter.com/rPwhlRByvk
— Jews Fight Back 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JewsFightBack) February 15, 2025
How do I know that the owners of this shop support Hamas? Because they redid their menu back in 2024 on the anniversary of the 10/7 attack, including a drink named for Yahya Sinwar, the now deceased planner of the 10/7 attack.
On the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, the coffee shop published its menu on Instagram, featuring two drinks named in honor of Hamas: a tea called “Iced In Tea Fada,” which refers to the notorious Palestinian “intifada” terrorist attacks, and a juice named after Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, dubbed the “Sweet Sinwar.” Sinwar became the leader of Hamas in August following the assassination of former leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran. He has now been named Israel’s “most wanted terrorist.”
The menu also included decorative red inverted triangles, a symbol adopted by the al-Quassam brigades, Hamas’ armed military forces that were responsible for the deaths of over 1,200 Israelis, and the capture of 200 others who were taken as hostages into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, according to data reported by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Here are some images of the menu:
In addition, the Jerusalem Coffee House—a pro-Hamas cafe in Oakland, Calif.—uses the Hamas red upside-down triangle on its menu. Hamas used the symbol to mark areas on maps to attack and kill people on Oct. 7.
The cafe also functions as an Antifa meeting space for lectures where… pic.twitter.com/DAUD2BYzWt
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) October 10, 2024
That’s offensive but not illegal. However, kicking someone out of a business because they are wearing a Jewish star crosses a line. Jerusalem House got sued by two different Jewish customers and the DOJ. Last week they announced they were closing to prepare for the lawsuits.
We’ve been fighting three lawsuits in both state and federal court since 2024. The United States Department of Justice, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Brandeis Center for Justice brought three separate and duplicative lawsuits over two incidents of zionist harassment of the cafe and its staff in 2024. These lawsuits represent the ongoing efforts of zionist organizations and the federal government to use the courts as a tool to repress free speech and public political commitments to Palestine.
Since these lawsuits began, the federal government and the ADL have used their immense resources to target our small business in and out of the courts. From critiquing our menu on Fox News to using the legal process to make invasive requests into personal social media accounts, text messages, and other sensitive information, they have done their best to make our cafe a target. We’ve faced harassment, property damage, and hate messages since. Despite it all, we’ve continued building the work that matters most to us.
As joyous as this sprint has been, we’ve been exhausted, unable to truly attend to the concerns we’re facing legally and operationally, to ensure we can keep serving our community to the degree we’d like. We’re two months out from trial in federal court, set for October 26, 2026, and we need to turn our full attention there.
We’re going to take some time to prepare, so the decisions we make reflect our moral character and ensure the safety of ourselves, our business, and most importantly, our community. This upcoming weekend will be our last operating day for some time. We’ll be holding a bake sale with Bakes not Bombs and our dear comrade Bake Sale Betty on Sunday, August 23 — come out and make it.
If this case were solely about the obnoxious menu and their support for Hamas, they might have a point about free speech. But it’s mostly about the treatment of Jewish customers. Here’s part of the press release for the DOJ lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that defendants discriminated against Jewish customers through policies and practices that denied them the full and equal enjoyment of the Jerusalem Coffee House’s services, accommodations, and privileges. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that on two separate occasions, Harara ordered Jewish customers — identified because they were wearing baseball caps with Stars of David on them — to leave the coffee house. During one incident, an employee told a Jewish customer who was trying to make a purchase, “You’re the guy with the hat. You’re the Jew. You’re the Zionist. We don’t want you in our coffee shop. Get out.” During another incident, Harara accused another Jewish customer who was with his five-year-old son of wearing a “Jewish star,” being a “Zionist,” and supporting “genocide.” Harara repeatedly demanded that the customer and his son leave and falsely accused them of “trespassing” to the Oakland police. Neither customer stated anything about their political views to Harara or any other employees while at the coffee house.
And here’s a description, from the lawsuit, of the first incident which is not the one captured in the video above.
On that day, Mr. Radice wore a baseball cap with a Star of David icon and the phrase “Am Yisrael Chai” emblazoned on the cap in Hebrew.
The phrase “Am Yisrael Chai” is a phrase used to signify solidarity with Jewish people and the Jewish community around the world, and simply means, “the people of Israel live.”
Upon approaching the Community Space, he encountered a man—John Doe #1—sitting at a table outside JCH. Mr. Radice was not familiar with this man.
Without any introduction or pleasantries, the man asked Mr. Radice “Are you a Jew?” Mr. Radice responded in the affirmative.
The man then asked Mr. Radice “Are you a Zionist?” and proceeded to spew a series of accusations about Mr. Radice’s Jewish identity, including accusing him of complicity in events taking place in the Gaza Strip following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel.
A month later, Radice returned to the coffee shop and tried to place an order.
Upon entering JCH and approaching the counter to make a purchase from the café, he noticed the two men from the July 2024 incident—John Doe #1 and Harara—working behind the counter. Mr. Radice did not notice any other customers in the café, but another worker, John Doe #2, was present.
Before Mr. Radice could place his order, one of the men from the July incident (John Doe #1) said “You’re the guy with the hat. You’re the Jew. You’re the Zionist. We don’t want you in our coffee shop. Get out.”
Their anti-Zionism seems incidental to their antisemitism. If you ask people heading into your business “Are you a Jew?” with the intent of stopping them if they say yes, that’s not anti-Zionism.
I don’t think Jerusalem House is going to reopen. We’ll see but they do not appear to be on very solid ground with the attempts to deny service which seem wholly about punishing a Jewish person who they knew nothing about beyond the star on his hat.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy HotAir’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join HotAir VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy HotAir’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join HotAir VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Read the full article here
