Jewish woman denied restroom access, cafe staff fired
Tensions between Israel and Hamas are not solely confined to the Middle East. Instances of aggressive behavior between Jews and Palestinians, along with their supporters, are surfacing worldwide. One such unsettling event took place in a Californian cafe where staff members denied a Jewish woman access to the restroom, leading to the dismissal of three employees.
12:21 PM EST, December 12, 2023
According to the "New York Post", three employees at Farley’s East cafe in Oakland, California were fired due to this display of anti-Semitic behavior. A customer at the cafe recorded a video revealing young employees obstructing her access to the restroom. The customer noticed anti-Semitic graffiti saying "Zionism = fascism" and "Your neutrality allows genocide" inscribed in the washroom. When she tried to re-enter the room to document these inscriptions, the employees blocked her access.
An employee attempted to evict the customer, citing the cafe as "private property," necessitating her departure. When the woman persisted in using the public restroom, the employee retorted, “I know that Israel loves to seize private property and call it their own, but you have to leave now," pointing her towards the door.
"I shouldn’t be segregated when others have the given right to,” the woman protested. The employee responded, “All you’ll see is a video of us saying ‘Zionism is antisemitism,’ because that’s what it is.” Subsequently, the employee finally consented, allowing her entry into the restroom. As she entered to record the offensive graffiti, the workforce made suggestive remarks like "History didn’t start in 1948" and "Free Palestine".
The owners of Farley’s East Cafe in Oakland responded to the incident by releasing a statement on social media this Sunday denouncing the staff's behavior as shocking, unacceptable, and in no way tolerated. As a result, the staff involved were dismissed. The StopAntisemitism organization posted the video of the incident, which has garnered almost 3 million views.