Pro-Palestinian protesters marching through Philadelphia Sunday congregated outside Goldie, a falafel restaurant owned by American–Israeli chef Michael Solomonov, vandalizing its front door and windows and chanting “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
Protestors in Philadelphia stand outside of a Jewish & Israeli owned falafel restaurant
“Goldie, Goldie you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” pic.twitter.com/yF7hQwev66
— Jordan Van Glish (@thatJVG) December 3, 2023
Solomonov, born in Israel and raised in Pittsburgh, focused on Italian cuisine at the start of his career. That changed in 2003, when his brother, David, who had volunteered for the Israel Defense Forces, was killed by snipers on the Lebanese border. Solomonov now owns a variety of Israeli- and Jewish-style restaurants, mainly in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro (D.) sharply condemned the protesters’ focus on Goldie in a post on X.
“Tonight in Philly, we saw a blatant act of antisemitism — not a peaceful protest,” he wrote. “A restaurant was targeted and mobbed because its owner is Jewish and Israeli. This hate and bigotry is reminiscent of a dark time in history.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates also addressed the mob’s actions, saying “it is antisemitic and completely unjustifiable to target restaurants that serve Israeli food over disagreements with Israeli policy, as Governor Shapiro has underlined.”
“This behavior reveals the kind of cruel and senseless double standard that is a calling card of antisemitism,” he continued. “President Biden has fought against the evil of antisemitism his entire life, including by launching the first national strategy to counter this hate in American history. He will always stand up firmly agains these kinds of undignified actions.”
The chanting at the restaurant was part of a broader rally in which demonstrators blocked traffic in downtown Philadelphia and marched through the neighborhood in which the University of Pennsylvania is located. Video taken near Penn’s campus shows a crowd of protesters chanting “long live the intifada” and “there is only one solution, intifada revolution.”
Protesters also reportedly ignited smoke bombs in the colors of the Palestinian flag and vandalized university property, spray-painting “Free Palestine” on a map of the campus in one instance of defacement.
The University of Pennsylvania has been in the news since even before October 7 for what some argue is a climate fostering antisemitism. University president Liz Magill, alongside the leaders of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will testify in front of the House Education and the Workforce Committee on Tuesday.