California coffee shop refused to serve Jewish customers, DOJ alleges

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit Monday against a California business over allegations it had discriminated against Jewish customers on several occasions.

The lawsuit, filed against Fathi Abdulrahim Harara and Native Grounds LLC of Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland, California, alleges the business refused to serve customers he identified as Jewish on at least two occasions, according to the DOJ’s report. The business also reportedly housed antisemitic symbols, painted on the exterior of the building.

“It is illegal, intolerable, and reprehensible for any American business open to the public to refuse to serve Jewish customers,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a prepared statement. “Through our vigorous enforcement of Title II of the Civil Rights Act and other laws prohibiting race and religious discrimination, the Justice Department is committed to combating anti-Semitism and discrimination and protecting the civil rights of all Americans.”

The first noted instance claims Harara identified a Jewish customer, Michael Radice, by the Star of David on his baseball cap and demanded that he leave his establishment. On another occasion, the owner allegedly identified another Jewish customer and his five-year-old son and demanded they leave, accusing him of “being a ‘Zionist,’ and supporting ‘genocide.’” He then falsely claimed they were “trespassing” to the Oakland police, according to the report.

The suit also claims the coffee shop released two anti-Semitic drinks on Oct. 7, 2024, allegedly in memory of the first anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel. These drinks were named “Iced In Tea Fada,” a reference to intifada, and “Sweet Sinwar,” a reference to a deceased Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, who led the October 7 attacks against Israel.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) originally filed a joint complaint against the Jerusalem Coffee House in late February in defense of Radice, who is an executive director at a local Oakland non-profit, according to ADL and Benesch court filings. The filing claims a second encounter occurred when Harara and two employees allegedly kicked him out of the coffee shop and then pursued him as he left. Both encounters happened in 2024, with the first in July and the second in August.

“No one should have to hide who they are to order a cup of coffee, but at Jerusalem Coffee House, antisemitism was literally on the menu,” Marc Levine, Regional Director for ADL Central Pacific, said in an ADL press release. “Bigotry against Jews is on the rise, but we will not be turned away — this behavior cannot be tolerated anywhere.”

Jerusalem Coffee House also has a Substack page, where the business published one article, on Oct. 14, 2024, highlighting the coffee shop’s Palestinian attitudes and advancement efforts. Antisemitic references, such as claiming that “zionists have distorted Judaism into a tool of death” and that “zionism operates as a settler-colonial strategy,” are prevalent in the brief essay.

This lawsuit comes less than a week after the DOJ told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it “will not tolerate” anti-Israel group violence rhetoric and weeks after the Department of Health and Human Services discovered Columbia University was violating its own civil rights policies by not confronting antisemitism on campus.

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