"From the river to the sea" is a phrase that many believe is antisemitic. It is interpreted as wiping out Israel "from the river to the sea."
So, it isn't a phrase one expects to find on a menu when trying to entice people with your food. But it is on the menu of the Ayat restaurant in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. The menu cover has a crying woman and the words "Down with the Occupation." That's also painted on the wall of the establishment.
Imagine if this were Jews doing this🤬
— 🦋𝕂𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕖 𝕂𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕪🦋I STILL SEE DUMB PEOPLE (@WinterAsh12) December 28, 2023
Palestinian restaurant in NYC sparks fury after it’s new seafood menu titled ‘From the River to the Sea’ is dubbed antisemitic.
Ayat restaurant, based in Brooklyn, features the words ‘Down with the Occupation’ on the front cover of the… pic.twitter.com/YUsWJxZUg7
Images from the inside of the one of the restaurants also show what appears to be Palestinian children imprisoned behind bars underneath the golden dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem, guarded by Israeli soldiers.
The owner added that he had two key elements to his 'brand': 'Number one is that I will always mention the occupation of the Palestinian people. And number two is that we will always advocate for peace.'
When questioned about the saying, which has gotten a lot of attention on X, the owner, Abdul Elenani, said he and his wife, Ayat Masoud, didn't mean it as anything bad.
Elenani claimed he had been using it for the past year, before Oct. 7, and that the phrase has "always" been defined as "calling for peace and equality for Palestinian people in their country.”
“And after Oct. 7, it was interpreted to be a way to kill, exile, murder, do whatever to all the Jewish people, which is totally nowhere near our definition. It’s been driving me crazy,” he added.
The manager, Hania Khattab, said it wasn't to harm anyone, but it was "used to promote freedom to Palestinians." But then he said some things that sounded a little more revealing.
The slogan’s detractors, he said, had a “victim complex” or “victim mindset.”
“They are assuming that that’s what we mean [genocide] by ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ but that’s now what we mean at all. When you say ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ it’s a call for freedom for all.
“As we know, Palestinians are living in an apartheid state. They have no rights. They have no freedom. And it’s, technically speaking, their homeland. So they’re under occupation.”
It's not an apartheid state, and there's no occupation. Gaza is run by Hamas. And we could quibble about the "homeland" too.
But people weren't buying that they didn't understand the meaning of the terms.
“These restaurateurs may think they are being cute or funny, but that phrase is universally recognized as a call for the annihilation of the Jewish people, and I find it hard to believe they don’t know what they’re doing,” said City Councilman Kalman Yeger, a Democrat.
“They are using Hamas language and claiming it means something different to them.”
One of their neighbors weighed in.
Neighbor Dahlia Schweitzer felt the imagery was “poking the hornet’s nest and they know what they’re doing” even if the owners simply claim “they’re just advocating for freedom.
“The best analogy that I could think [of] is if a restaurant that had Southern food had the Confederate flag on their menu and tried to spin it as ‘Oh, this is just Southern pride.’
“And it’s like, you know, ‘Don’t be coy.’”
The restaurant says they have been receiving threats since this was widely publicized. That doesn't help anything.
But it doesn't look like things are going to get better with disturbing protests hitting the city, including one where people stormed the World Trade Center chanting "Allahu Akbar" and "Intifada, Revolution," and Mayor Eric Adams was expressing concern about what might happen on New Year's Eve at the ball drop in Times Square.
NYPD Bracing for New Year's Eve 'Protests.' Could This Be the Black Swan Event?
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