DOJ Sues Coffee Shop for Allegedly Denying Service to Jewish Customers
According to the suit, workers denied service to and shouted epithets at two men wearing Star of David baseball caps in 2024.
On Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a civil rights lawsuit against an Oakland, California, coffee shop that allegedly denied service to two Jewish customers. While the suit focuses on allegations of obvious anti-Semitic discrimination, Bondi herself has highlighted the coffee shop's use of offensive drink names and controversial pro-Palestinian images—both of which are obviously protected speech.
The suit claims that two different Jewish men were denied service at the coffee shop, called Jerusalem Coffee House, for wearing hats with the Star of David on them. The first man, Michael Radice, tried to go to the coffee shop in June 2024 to see if it could be a good location for a fundraising event for the organization he worked for. He was wearing a baseball cap with a Star of David on it, and the words "Am Yisraeli Chai," meaning "the people of Israel live." Radice walked up to the shop, and a man sitting at a table in front of the store—an employee, Radice later learned—asked him if he was a Jew and a Zionist and "began shouting numerous accusations at Mr. Radice, including that he was complicit in Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks," according to the suit.
Radice returned weeks later for the fundraising event, and "arrived early and entered the coffee shop to purchase a cookie, which he hoped would be seen as a sign of goodwill," according to the lawsuit. "Radice was not wearing the baseball cap he wore on his previous visit, nor anything else that would indicate his religious or political beliefs." The suit claims that the employee from the previous encounter told him, "You're the guy with the hat. You're the Jew. You're the Zionist. We don't want you in our coffee shop. Get out." The suit further claimed that Fathi Abdulrahim Harara, the shop's owner, and "two other employees followed Mr. Radice outside, yelling 'Jew' and 'Zionist' at him," even though Radice at no point said anything about his views on Israel.
In a second incident, Jonathan Hirsch entered the shop in October 2024 with his five-year-old son. Hirsch was wearing a dark blue baseball cap with a white Star of David on it. The suit claims that, a few minutes after entering the shop, Harara "demanded to know whether Mr. Hirsch was a 'Zionist' and whether he was wearing a 'Jewish star,'" and "demanded that Mr. Hirsch and his son leave the premises."
Hirsch refused to leave, and Harara called the police. When police arrived, Harara "repeatedly demanded that the officers remove Mr. Hirsch and arrest him for trespassing, at one point requesting that they physically restrain Mr. Hirsch face-down on the sidewalk in front of his young son." The suit adds that "Harara followed Mr. Hirsch and the officers outside and continued to spew insults and epithets at both Mr. Hirsch and his young son. These included repeatedly calling Mr. Hirsch a 'bitch,' a 'dog,' and a 'piece of shit.'"
While the lawsuit alleges incidents of clear discrimination against Jews, it also bizarrely mentions the coffee shop's protected speech. The suit notes that, on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks against Israel, the coffee shop unveiled two new drinks "'Iced In Tea Fada,' an apparent reference to 'intifada,' and 'Sweet Sinwar,'" apparently named after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The suit also notes that the shop has several inverted red triangles—a controversial pro-Palestinian symbol—painted on an exterior wall.
Bondi herself stated that this speech motivated the lawsuit in a recent television interview, discussing the drink names before saying, "We've sued them and we're gonna stop this from happening. And anywhere in the country, if you do this, we're coming after you."
While the suit does not claim that these speech acts are themselves illegal discrimination, their inclusion at all in the suit—and Bondi's remarks—will surely have a chilling effect on businesses looking to engage in controversial, though protected, pro-Palestinian speech. While the Justice Department should be going after illegal discrimination, they can achieve that aim without chilling protected speech.
