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By Hannah Parry and Anna Commander
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A New York City coffee shop faces backlash online after announcing that a Democratic congressman was not welcome over his pro-Israel stance.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Poetica Coffee shared a photo of Representative Dan Goldman in one of its Brooklyn branches. Alongside the picture was another showing the shop had refunded him for his $9.82 purchase because, it said, it didn't want or need the business from "genocide enablers."
“Hey Congressman Dan Goldman, we see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee," the shop said in the post. "Do you see how it doesn’t taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference? See, here at Poetica, we don’t serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers, or anyone in between.
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"Too bad we didn’t recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away. We issued you a refund—we don’t need your money (it’s probably coming from AIPAC anyways). Enjoy your loss on Tuesday, the post continued, referring to the fierce Democratic primary battle in New York's 10th Congressional District, where Goldman faces Israel critic and former City Comptroller Brad Lander. "Don’t ever come to Poetica.”
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In response to Newsweek, Lander said, “There are plenty of ways to lobby elected officials and express outrage at the votes they’ve taken without turning coffee shops into places people don’t feel welcome. I’m glad Poetica took down their post, and I thought Rep. Goldman’s reply was extremely gracious.”
The post, which has been condemned by local Jewish leaders, has sparked a review bombing campaign online.
Poetica Coffee previously had mostly five-star reviews praising the cafe for its friendly service and quality coffee. But since Monday, as reports of the post began spreading, there has been a wave of one-star reviews.
Yelp has even temporarily paused all reviews for the business as it investigates whether they are from genuine customers.
In a statement, Yelp said, "This business recently received increased public attention resulting in an influx of people posting their views to this page, so we have temporarily disabled the ability to post here as we work to investigate the content. While activity or content supporting racism, discrimination, or bigotry have no place on Yelp and we unequivocally reject them in any form, all reviews on Yelp must reflect an actual first-hand consumer experience (even if that means disabling the ability for users to express points of view we might agree with)."
Poetica Coffee also shared purported death threats it said it had received on its Instagram page. That account has since been deactivated, although it's unclear whether that decision was made by Instagram or Poetica.
Goldman, who has often described himself as "unabashedly pro-Israel," confirmed in a comment that he had seen Poetica Coffee's post.
“I am sorry to see this post,” Goldman said Monday in a comment on the Facebook entry. “The barista could not have been nicer to my 7-year-old daughter and me — allowing her to use the bathroom even though we had not purchased anything. I made sure to buy a coffee in return for her kindness. I hope you at least make sure she gets the tip that she deserved.”
When Newsweek reached out to Goldman for further comment, his staff simply directed us to his Facebook post.
Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, condemned the post in a statement on Monday to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“Assigning collective blame to Jews or perceived supporters of Israel over disagreements with Middle East policies is the very definition of antisemitism,” he said. “It is shameful and hateful, and businesses open to the public do not get to discriminate based on religion, ancestry, ethnicity, or stereotypes.”
When asked about the post by CNN's Brianna Keilar Monday night, Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California said, "I don't think you should be doing that. Obviously, any coffee shop needs to serve any person regardless of their religion or their faith or their political views.
"But look, Brad Lander's gonna win that primary overwhelmingly, and the reason he's going to win is that far more Americans support his view. They don't believe that we should have given a blanket check to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. They're much more concerned about us spending money here on 'Team America,' on Pennsylvania, on Ohio, on Michigan, than giving billions of dollars to Israel that already has a $45 billion defense budget. And so, I just think people like Brad Lander are much more in touch with where the American people are and that's going to be proven tomorrow night."
What Happens Next
President Donald Trump's Department of Justice Civil Rights Division announced on Monday that it is launching an investigation into Poetica Coffee “and will bring an enforcement action if warranted.”
Newsweek has reached out to Poetica for comment via social media. An unidentified staff member told the New York Post in the store: “No comment. We stand against genocide."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Edward Cummins.
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