Pennsylvania leaders condemn anti-Zionists targeting Jewish eateries

Pennsylvania leaders this week condemned an antisemitic and anti-Zionist bicycle “boycott ride” protest targeting Jewish eateries in Philadelphia.

The activist groups announced the upcoming Sunday protest in Philadelphia’s central Rittenhouse Square, saying, “No business for Zionists.”

The protesters planned to ride bicycles around the area, with flags, to “show our solidarity with the Palestinian community and oppressed folx everywhere,” organizers said in a statement, using an inclusive term for folks.

“Ride around Rittenhouse with us as we show these Zionist business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are,” the statement said.

Organizers include the groups Philly Bike on Your Left, No Appetite for Apartheid, Philly Writers Against the War in Gaza, Boycott CookNSolo and Philly Solidarity Calendar.

The targeted restaurants are K’Far Cafe, Dizengoff, Mac Mart, Huda, Goldie and Schlesinger’s.

Organizers did not outline any specific complaints about the restaurants.

Anti-Zionist protesters have repeatedly targeted Jewish and Israeli eateries in the US with protests, online harassment, and vandalism in recent years.

The Philadelphia protest will take place on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 nationwide pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany seen as a harbinger of the Holocaust.

The office of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, said his administration was coordinating with authorities ahead of the rally.

“This bike ride, masquerading as a protest to advance the cause of justice, is nothing more than blatant antisemitism designed to intimidate and drive Jewish businesses out of our communities,” a Shapiro spokesperson told Fox News.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said the event was “deeply unsettling.”

“This is not simply a protest directed at the policies of Israel, rather it singles out our fellow Pennsylvanians based on their Jewish identity,” Sunday said in a statement.

Both of Pennsylvania’s senators, John Fetterman and David McCormick, local Philadelphia elected leaders and a Philadelphia Christian clergy group, the Philadelphia Council of Clergy, also condemned the event as antisemitic and expressed support for the Jewish community.

A joint statement from the Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia, the American Jewish Committee Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and StandWithUs said the rally was “Jew-hatred, plain and simple.”

“Marking businesses for removal from Philadelphia is an attempt to intimidate, marginalize and exclude members of the Jewish community from the economic and civic life of our city,” the statement said. “We will not allow antisemitism to be disguised as activism. We will not accept efforts to intimidate Jewish businesses or drive them out of Philadelphia.”

Local Jews have rallied behind the restaurants, calling on community members to dine or order from the eateries.

After coming under fire, participating groups doubled down in a Wednesday statement, saying, “Every business that subscribes to the genocidal ideology of Zionism is subject to boycott and has no place in our city.

“As the political ideology of Zionism dies a long-deserved death, these businesses will die with it. Free Palestine,” the statement said.