A Palestinian restaurant in NYC recently opened to some bad reviews – and it’s all because of its antisemitic menu.
“Ayat” eatery – which had three locations in the Big Apple — opened a fourth last week in the largely Jewish Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, upsetting many of the patrons with the offensive language on the menu.
The phrases “from the river to the sea” and “down with the occupation” were scrawled across the menus handed out to fuming customers, who later went on Facebook to blast Ayat’s owners for being “openly genocidal.”
Of course, everyone knows the slogan “from the river to the sea” has been used as a rallying cry to wipe out Israel. The anti-Defamation League has even labeled the phrase antisemitic.
But, Ayat’s owners – Abdul Elenani and his wife, Masoud – chalked it off to a misunderstanding, saying they have “no ill will” toward Jewish people.
In a Facebook post, Abdul wrote that “our interpretation on it is just simply freedom and rights to the Palestinian people between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea.” He added, “We’re just against the Zionist mentality of, like, eliminate or flatten now.”
As you know, tensions have been riding high in the Middle East since October 7th when Hamas militants attacked Israel, slaughtering about 1,400 Jews, including babies.
A day later, Israel declared war against Hamas – a terrorist group governing the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Over the past two months, the Israel-Hamas conflict has produced major causalities on both sides and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to all the fighting.
