Jewish-owned shop vandalized in pro-Palestinian attack reopens as police investigate potential hate crime
Smitten Ice Cream in San Francisco was vandalized with Pro-Palestinian messages in October. Now, the Jewish-owned store has reopened, and the owner is sending a message.
A Jewish-owned ice cream shop that closed after being vandalized with pro-Palestinian graffiti last month recently reopened, the owner announced.
"We are thrilled to announce that we have reopened our Mission store doors on Tuesday, November 21st," Smitten Ice Cream owner Robyn Sue Fisher wrote on her company's site. "Thank you for standing by us and with us through these challenging times."
"We cannot wait to serve up joy and love to the community once again," the post continued.
The San Francisco-based ice cream parlor temporarily closed after it was vandalized on Oct. 25 with "FREE PALESTIEN [sic]" spray-painted on the storefront, according to Mission Local, a regional outlet.
The officers who responded to the ice cream shop's alarm found the store's windows shattered, San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Officer Gonee Sepulveda told Fox News in a statement earlier this month.
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"The graffiti suggests that the shop was targeted because I am Jewish, and it is currently being investigated by authorities as a hate crime," Fisher wrote at the time.
The investigation remains ongoing, SFPD told J., a Northern California Jewish news outlet, on Wednesday.
Fisher and her employees were "scared and hurt," by the attack, she said in another social media post.
The vandalism occurred less than three weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks ignited the Israel-Hamas war.
There were over 830 documented antisemitic incidents across the U.S. between Oct. 7, 2023, and Nov. 7, 2023, according to a recent Anti-Defamation League survey. That averages to nearly 28 antisemitic incidents a day.
Since the attack, a GoFundMe for Smitten business raised over $100,000, helping the store reopen in less than a month, according to its site. To commemorate the reopening, Fisher announced a new mixed berry ice cream flavor called "I Choose Love."
The owner also announced a new art project at Smitten's San Francisco location called the "Pillar of Love," where guests are encouraged to write positive notes before attaching them to the installation.
Fisher has sold ice cream in San Francisco for over a decade, according to the shop's website. She originally began selling ice cream out of a Radio Flyer wagon she pulled around the city.
The chain has locations in San Francisco, San Jose, California, and Las Vegas.
Fisher, Smitten Ice Cream and the SFPD did not return requests for comment.