United States: Pro-Palestinian protestors have come on the streets of Philadelphia on Sunday to protest against the government of the United States for supporting the Israeli authorities amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
In the midst of the attack, a case of harassment caught the headlines. According to the reports by Fox News, an Israeli-born restaurant owner was publicly harassed by a group of people. The owner was accused of genocide.
Several reports have underlined that while marching on the streets of Philadelphia, the protestors asked for cease-firing in Gaza. Along with this, some of the demonstrators stormed Goldie – an Israeli-style falafel shop co-owned by chef Michael Solomonov.
According to the officials, the restaurant was vandalized by a group of people after continuously shouting outside it. All the actions of the protestors were captured on video, which was shared by the governor of State.
It is to be known that the action has garnered criticism from other officials. As per the reports by Fox News, the video has captured a protestor saying, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide.”
Vandalizing of other infrastructure
Another anonymous official informed the media that along with the restaurants, the protestors have also vandalized other buildings, including TD Bank and Starbucks.
It is to be known that both the vandalized buildings were directly or indirectly connected with the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza territory. TD Bank was among the providers of humanitarian aid to the Middle East, according to the reports.
In addition to this, recently, Starbucks stated that the pro-Palestinian post tarnished its brand – which led to backlash from the supporters of Palestinians. Along with this, the company underscored that it is and will always remain a non-political organization.
Following this, the company took a moment to issue a clarification on its official website. The statement wrote, “Neither Starbucks nor the company’s former chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz provide financial support to the Israeli government and/or the Israeli Army in any way.”
Alert by the University of Pennsylvania Division of Public Safety
As the protest took an uncertain turn, the University of Pennsylvania Division of Public Safety issued a warning to ensure the safety of the general public. Reportedly, the Division mentioned, “Penn Police were on site monitoring as the march approached our campus and continued to monitor the area with Philadelphia Police until the protest concluded at approximately 8:20 pm.”
Furthermore, the authority continued, “Penn Police documented multiple instances of graffiti along the march route and will be investigating to identify the individuals responsible.”
Remarks by the Governor of Pennsylvania
The Governor of Pennsylvania – Josh Shapiro, took to his official X, formerly known as Twitter, handle to share his views towards the recently occurred violence in the region.
This social media post read, “Tonight in Philly, we saw a blatant act of antisemitism – not a peaceful protest. 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.”
Further, he also shared a video. Shapiro also outlined that he has been continuously interacting with Solomonov and his team at Goldie.
Statement by the White House
The spokesperson of the White House Andrew Bates, issued a statement about the attack and criticized the violence, which led to damage to infrastructure.
The statement read, “It is Antisemitic and completely unjustifiable to target restaurants that serve Israeli food over disagreements with Israeli policy, as Governor Shapiro has underlined.”
It further read, “This behavior reveals the kind of cruel and senseless double standard that is a calling card of Antisemitism. 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 against these kinds of undignified actions.”