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Philadelphia protesters circle Jewish chef's falafel restaurant: 'You can't hide!'

A Philadelphia software engineer posted a video of protesters circling a falafel restaurant run by a James Beard Award winner who is Jewish. The protesters associated the chef and owner with Israel's bombing of Gaza.

Taking to social media on Sunday, a man identifying himself as Jordan, who works for Bloomberg, posted the video and some details about what he observed.

"Goldie, Goldie you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide," the protesters chanted.

"They continued their march down the street, but not before vandalizing the front windows," he wrote. "To clarify, I witnessed them placing stickers on the front door and windows of the restaurant. I just walked by," and the stickers read "Free Palestine" and "This is Genocide."

"Serving falafel" is genocide? Questioned Jordan.

Former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum explained that the restaurant Goldie is run by Michael Solomonov, who has a number of establishments in the area bringing culinary creations from Israel to the United States.

Calling the protesters an "antisemitic mob," Frum said, "They demand a boycott of Jewish goods. Michael Solomonov is a James Beard Award-winning chef. He makes some of the best hummus outside Israel, as well as outstanding lamb and other dishes. It all ships via Goldbelly. If you want to send a message of your own to the boycotters, you can do so here."

Middle East expert Eli Kowaz, a policy adviser to the Israel Policy Forum, explained that Solomonov has long been an "outspoken advocate of Israeli-Palestinian peace."

Alex Zeldin, columnist at "The Forward" on U.S. Foreign Policy and Jewish communal concerns, reposted the video as well, noting that the owner of a falafel shop has no power to "anything about Israel's military campaign against Hamas. What you're looking at is people normalizing antisemitic incitement against their Jewish neighbors."

See the video below or at the link here.

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by Anonymousreply 56December 7, 2023 6:42 AM

Fucking idiots - they should be charged with intimidation and a hate crime.

Meanwhile - REPUBLICANS are trying to overthrow our democracy, but NO - let's go protest a falafel place?

So fucking stupid.

I bet they picked this because they believe falafel is a middle-eastern food and he's appropriating the middle eastern arab culture while being Jewish. This is how the dumb left sometimes think.

I'm a progressive liberal - but JFC some of these younger idiots are pissing me off. NOT HELPING!!!

by Anonymousreply 1December 4, 2023 4:40 AM

These people are out of control. What the hell does some random American chef in Philadelphia who happens to be Jewish have to do with the actions of the Israeli government on the other side of the world?

by Anonymousreply 2December 4, 2023 4:41 AM

[quote] Meanwhile - REPUBLICANS are trying to overthrow our democracy, but NO - let's go protest a falafel place?

Yes Defacto, harassing a falafel guy is going to lead to oppressive dictatorship — certainly not a losing candidate inciting a mob to storm Congress and take lawmakers hostage.

There really is no bottom to your pit of idiocy, is there? You never hear the rock plop, it just falls and falls and falls.

by Anonymousreply 3December 4, 2023 4:46 AM

If conducting yourself like this is what constitutes as woke. I’ll say fuck you.

by Anonymousreply 4December 4, 2023 4:50 AM

I’m sure the protest of the felafel place will change many minds. ..To go from indifference to downright hate of the protestors.

by Anonymousreply 6December 4, 2023 4:56 AM

Yeah, protesting falafel vendors and disrupting Christmas events is really going to win over American hearts and minds.

by Anonymousreply 7December 4, 2023 5:26 AM

R5 - why were they protesting against the guy and chanting, "Goldie, Goldie you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide," which is essentially intimidation and can be scary? And OP also mentioned the windows of the restaurant were vandized.

by Anonymousreply 8December 4, 2023 5:40 AM

R5 = FF

by Anonymousreply 9December 4, 2023 5:42 AM

Goldie?

by Anonymousreply 10December 4, 2023 5:46 AM

Oh that's the restaurant's name, never mind

by Anonymousreply 11December 4, 2023 5:47 AM

R5 oh fuck off. They were there to intimidate but go ahead and act like this was just a quiet candle light vigil.

by Anonymousreply 12December 4, 2023 5:51 AM

I was just asked today what I wanted from Goldbelly. It will be something from a Michael Solomonov restaurant. Goldie's isn't on the Goldbelly list, but Zahav is his preeminent Israeli restaurant in Philadelphia.

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by Anonymousreply 13December 4, 2023 5:58 AM

Disgusting shitbags.

by Anonymousreply 14December 4, 2023 11:45 AM

The optics of this are so bizarre, I’m sorry, could this be a false flag operation by Mossad? Antiwar protesters singling out a falafel restaurant? Why would they know the owner is Israeli? I protested the Iraq war in the Aughts, we never did anything like this.

by Anonymousreply 15December 4, 2023 12:00 PM

Yeah, that cultural appropriation bullshit is just that: bullshit.

by Anonymousreply 16December 4, 2023 12:02 PM

These people have no relationship with the issue, they're the same empty headed fools who variously self-identify autistic, hey maybe trans, but hey BLM and now Intifada, full Gestapo. Did I miss a cause? Where will the wind blow this trash next?

by Anonymousreply 17December 4, 2023 12:06 PM

The fact that David Frum inserted himself into this makes me suspect False Flag. I don’t believe protestors would legitimately pursue the tactic of harassing Jewish-owned businesses. This seems specifically designed to make people associate the protesters with anti-Jewish violence of prewar Germany.

I’m sorry, this has to be Mossad.

by Anonymousreply 18December 4, 2023 12:47 PM

All is fair in (love and) war.

Tell it to the Palestinian kid who was shot in Vermont, and is now paralyzed.

All he was doing was having Thanksgiving dinner with family.

by Anonymousreply 19December 4, 2023 12:58 PM

This is insanity

by Anonymousreply 20December 4, 2023 1:26 PM

It’s not a false flag ffs. Some people really love a sentimental narrative.

by Anonymousreply 21December 4, 2023 1:31 PM

I read in the other thread about the 15,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, someone here posted, "Oh, you can't believe them."

But we're supposed to believe Israel?

Please. They're liars on both sides.

I don't believe either of them.

by Anonymousreply 22December 4, 2023 1:39 PM

[quote]I don’t believe protestors would legitimately pursue the tactic of harassing Jewish-owned businesses.

Yes, they've shown themselves to be very strategic and level-headed.

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by Anonymousreply 23December 4, 2023 1:40 PM

Who's the propagandist who keeps hollering "False Flag?" If anything, this was a Tik Tok scrum started by some 19-year old blue haired "queer" from a neighboring college.

by Anonymousreply 24December 4, 2023 1:51 PM

Protesting at a televised event like the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting is something protesters would have done in the Iraq war

Targeting a Jewish owned business is not. The fact that the owner is an Israeli dove makes it more suspicious.

by Anonymousreply 25December 4, 2023 2:04 PM

Insanity

by Anonymousreply 26December 4, 2023 2:06 PM

So much for William Penn's dream of the City of Brotherly Love.

"The city was named by its founder, William Penn, who envisioned a city of religious tolerance where no one would be persecuted."

by Anonymousreply 27December 4, 2023 2:10 PM

R22 - but what does what you posted have to do with targeting a Jewish-owned business in Philly?

by Anonymousreply 28December 4, 2023 2:13 PM

[quote]The optics of this are so bizarre, I’m sorry, could this be a false flag operation by Mossad? Antiwar protesters singling out a falafel restaurant? Why would they know the owner is Israeli? I protested the Iraq war in the Aughts, we never did anything like this.

ARE THE JEWS BEHIND ANTI JEWISH RACIST PROTESTS!!!!!

by Anonymousreply 29December 4, 2023 2:36 PM

The guy supposedly donates to the IDF.

by Anonymousreply 30December 4, 2023 2:48 PM

Re: R30:

That excuse is something MAGAts would use to surround someone's business or house who they claimed donated to Biden or Planned Parenthood.

It's absolutely vile behavior.

by Anonymousreply 31December 4, 2023 4:04 PM

Do those scarves come in blue and white? That could be fun—no one would know what you meant.

by Anonymousreply 32December 4, 2023 4:36 PM

The Bernie Left fauxgressives instigating their own Kristallnacht!

So much progress!

Any Justice Dems hiding in the Democratic Party have any comments? Yeah, I thought not.

by Anonymousreply 33December 4, 2023 4:39 PM

R31, it’s apparently public record. He’s Israeli. It’s not unthinkable. Many Israelis do and he’s a loaded philanthropist. Now, the question then becomes, is it morally wrong to donate to the IDF? Americans donate to veteran charities. Do we blame veterans for atrocities or the government? Hell, Americans donate to IRA.

Rational people know that these people are performative jackasses. I think we’re reaching peak progressivism. The DSA is a fringe organization. Marxism fucks with people’s minds. Miss Sarandon isn’t an anomaly.

by Anonymousreply 34December 4, 2023 4:44 PM

Peaceful protests, ahh...

by Anonymousreply 35December 4, 2023 4:49 PM

Just remember who has the buying power in this country.

by Anonymousreply 36December 4, 2023 4:49 PM

And while we worry about trifles like this, the hardcore evangelical Republicans and the growing Islamic movement will split us in half. Someone should be mediating between Israel and Palestine. And in America we have to keep the Islamic threat in check. Separation of church and state or we’re all going to be hanging by our thumbs, getting stoned by a few hundred crackpots or being executed. People have a right to choose and practice their religion as they see fit in America. But religious leaders have no business trying to control our votes, Christian nationalists or Muslims.

But y’all go ahead and harass a Jewish falafel shop…

by Anonymousreply 37December 4, 2023 5:16 PM

Genocide meal!

Genocide meal!

Genocide meal!

Down down McDonalds!

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by Anonymousreply 38December 4, 2023 5:18 PM

The man who did Middle Eastern peace treaties was Jimmy Carter.

by Anonymousreply 39December 4, 2023 5:20 PM

Hear, hear R37!

What the fuck are these people thinking?

by Anonymousreply 40December 4, 2023 5:21 PM

This is like going to a taco joint because you don’t like migrants.

by Anonymousreply 41December 4, 2023 5:25 PM

R22, was that within the past day or so?

Who ever posted that Hamas-reported death toll here said it was “15,550,980” or something like that— they typed out 15 million and some odd hundreds of thousands. It was an eight-digit number with three commas. I have dyscalculia and even I knew that was wrong. That couldn’t have been a typo. What a fucking idiot. No wonder so many Americans are so easily manipulated, they’ve been dumbed down to the point where they don’t catch a difference between fifteen thousand and fifteen million.

by Anonymousreply 42December 4, 2023 5:28 PM

I believe that poster was making a point about the unreliability of Hamas estimates, R42.

by Anonymousreply 43December 4, 2023 5:34 PM

Israel have been targeting Hamas bases, missile equipment and tunnels. Hamas are hiding in civilian areas which means the death toll is high.

There is no doubt that women and children are being killed but Hamas are the ones providing the figures and Hamas refuse to say how many deaths are of Hamas fighters. Conservative estimates are that 1000s of Hamas "soldiers" are dead.

by Anonymousreply 44December 4, 2023 5:39 PM

[quote] Just remember who has the buying power in this country.

What’s that supposed to mean?

by Anonymousreply 45December 4, 2023 6:02 PM

[quote]The guy supposedly donates to the IDF.

So fucking what? You can publicize that. You can say what you think about the man. But surrounding his store with an angry mob is not okay. They should have been arrested. Governor Shapiro tweeted that antisemitism is unacceptable. Awesome. If antisemitism is unacceptable, why did Philadelphia police accept it.

by Anonymousreply 46December 4, 2023 6:05 PM

I eat old people’s excrement.

by Anonymousreply 47December 4, 2023 6:18 PM

Oh OK, R43, that makes sense.

It was followed by comments like the ones you mentioned and I thought they were serious. It is hard to tell given the absurdity of so many of the pro-Hamas posts.

I’m glad you saw it at least— I was coping with insomnia when I read it in the wee hours. Today I couldn’t find it and I was starting to think I dreamt it.

by Anonymousreply 48December 4, 2023 6:27 PM

r43, you are correct. I posted that, as that is how I understand it works at the Gaza Health Ministry Department of Statistics.

by Anonymousreply 49December 4, 2023 10:20 PM

Thanks for the clarification, R49. I should have known.

by Anonymousreply 50December 4, 2023 10:54 PM

R3 - I think you misunderstood what I was saying.

The left should be demonstrating against the stripping of rights (abortion, LGBT, voting - the list goes on) and our slow walk to dictatorship with the Republican party and Trump.

By no means did I say that protesting a falafel place would lead to dictatorship. I meant that this protest is misplaced energy - particularly targeting a Jewish business and yelling slurs.

The left is getting all riled up about Palestine and all of this energy would be better placed toward fighting the Republican regime.

by Anonymousreply 51December 5, 2023 2:20 AM

The National Review has spoken.

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by Anonymousreply 52December 6, 2023 1:08 AM

The National Review is in no position to label anyone a psychopath.

by Anonymousreply 53December 6, 2023 1:32 AM

Turns out the political climate at the restaurant had been unraveling for weeks before the high-profile episode, creating a situation for which the company has now apologized.

Two workers at Goldie said they were recently fired for wearing pro-Palestinian flag pins at work. They, along with three other current and former CookNSolo employees, told The Inquirer that the restaurant group had made a political statement on the conflict by hosting an Oct. 12 fundraiser for a nonprofit that provides aid to the Israeli military, misled employees about the nonprofit’s work, and then thrust workers into a politically difficult position for nearly two months.

The protesters’ brief stop at the falafel spot — where demonstrators chanted “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” — drew widespread rebuke and accusations of antisemitism from the local Jewish community up to the White House.

Gov. Josh Shapiro visited Goldie on Wednesday to show support for the restaurant that he alleged had been targeted solely due its Israeli and Jewish owners, chef Michael Solomonov and businessman Steve Cook, who operate a fleet of acclaimed eateries as CookNSolo.

“They don’t have a right to come and protest at restaurants simply because it’s owned by a Jew and hold that Jew responsible for Israeli policy,” Shapiro said. “That’s the definition of antisemitism.”

CookNSolo has not issued a public statement about the Sunday episode. But in a letter sent to staff members Wednesday, Solomonov and Cook addressed the fundraiser, the firings, and the simmering tensions within their restaurants since the war broke out.

Full article at link-

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by Anonymousreply 54December 7, 2023 6:25 AM

These people are exhausting

Hamilton, who is 23 and had worked at Goldie for more than two years, arrived back at work wearing a Palestine flag pin that she had made.

Two weeks later, management announced a new uniform policy. The only change: “No stickers, pins, patches etc besides those that are Goldie branded.”

After the policy was announced, Hamilton wore her pin to work and was sent home and told to take the following day off. She returned to work without the pin but by then, her coworker, Noah Wood, had begun wearing a Palestine flag pin on his hat. Hamilton didn’t discipline him.

by Anonymousreply 55December 7, 2023 6:34 AM

I expect these lovely young people will lose their jobs and claim they were fired for "supporting Palestine" and not "harassing a Jewish customer".

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by Anonymousreply 56December 7, 2023 6:42 AM
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