A mob of Po-Palestinian protesters chanted antisemitic slogans outside a Jewish restaurant in Philadelphia and vandalized it.
The angry crowd targeted Goldie, a falafel restaurant owned by American-Israeli chef Michael Solomonov, on Sunday night.
They chanted “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” and vandalized its front door and windows.
Solomonov, who was born in Israel and grew up in Pittsburgh, initially focused on Italian cuisine. But that changed when his brother, David, a volunteer in the IDF, was killed by snipers on the Lebanese border in 2003. Solomonov now runs a number of Israeli and Jewish-style restaurants.
Pennsylvania’s Jewish governor Josh Shapiro sharply condemned the protesters’ focus 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.”
Shapiro wrote that he's reached out to Solomonov “to share our support and Lori and I look forward to breaking bread there with them again soon.”
The attack on Goldie came after students at the nearby University of Pennsylvania called for an "intifada".
Video taken near Penn’s campus shows a crowd of protesters chanting “long live the intifada” and “there is only one solution, intifada revolution.”
The chanting at Goldie’s was part of a rally in which demonstrators blocked traffic in downtown Philadelphia. The protests were led by the Philly Palestine Coalition.