White House and Pennsylvania governor condemn ‘antisemitic’ rally in front of Israeli-style restaurant in Philadelphia

By Chris Boyette, Betsy Klein and Eric Levenson, CNN

(CNN) — The White House and the governor of Pennsylvania criticized as “antisemitic” a pro-Palestinian protest held Sunday outside an acclaimed Israeli-style falafel shop in Philadelphia.

Video of the incident shows a group of demonstrators gathered outside Goldie, a falafel shop owned by the prominent Israeli-American chef Michael Solomonov. In the video, demonstrators marched down the street waving Palestinian flags, repeating the chant, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.”

The incident was part of a broader march in support of Gaza and Palestinians on Sunday that began at Rittenhouse Square. The demonstration continued for at least 20 more blocks after the stop at Goldie, across the Walnut Street Bridge into University City and West Philadelphia. There, marchers joined an ongoing candlelight vigil and protest in front of a controversial housing project.

The Philadelphia Free Palestine Coalition had posted on Facebook earlier calling for supporters to “flood the streets” in a demonstration.

The Philadelphia Police Department did not respond to CNN’s request for additional information.

Solomonov is co-owner of CookNSolo Restaurants group that includes multiple Israeli-style restaurants in Philadelphia and one in Brooklyn, NY. He has won several James Beard Awards for his Philadelphia restaurant Zahav and in 2015 published a cookbook, “Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking.”

CookNSolo publicly donated to an Israeli non-profit helping Israelis after the October 7 Hamas attacks.

CNN has reached out to Solomonov for comment.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro criticized the protesters who gathered in front of Goldie in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Tonight in Philly, we saw a blatant act of antisemitism — not a peaceful protest,” Shapiro said. “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.”

He reiterated those thoughts hours later, saying during an unrelated event Monday, “The purposeful gathering of a mob outside of a restaurant simply because it is owned by a Jewish person, well, that’s antisemitism, plain and simple.”

The governor said he’s been in touch with Solomonov “to make sure that he and his staff know that we are here for them and lifting them up.”

The White House sharply condemned the protesters as well, echoing Shapiro’s assertion that it was an act of antisemitism.

“It is Antisemitic and completely unjustifiable to target restaurants that serve Israeli food over disagreements with Israeli policy, as Governor Shapiro has underlined,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement to CNN.

“This behavior reveals the kind of cruel and senseless double standard that is a calling card of Antisemitism. President Biden has fought against the evil of Antisemitism his entire life, including by launching the first national strategy to counter this hate in American history. He will always stand up firmly against these kinds of undignified actions,” Bates said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Danny Freeman contributed to this report.

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