‘You can’t do that’: Pam Bondi issues warning after 2 Jews allegedly refused service
Amid a Trump administration war on anti-Semitism, which has moved from a number of universities with such policies to the broader scope of American society, a lawsuit has been filed by the Department of Justice over the alleged actions at a California coffee shop.
And the action was accompanied by a warning from Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“You can’t do that. And so we’ve sued them, and we’re going to stop this from happening. And anywhere in the country, if you do this, we’re coming after you,” she said.
Newsweek reports a lawyer, Glenn Katon, for the “Jerusalem Coffee House,” denied all the accusations it refused to serve Jews.
“Neither the owner nor staff are anti-Semitic, and they would not tolerate anti-Semitism in their cafe,” Katon said.
The action alleges the coffee shop denied service to two customers wearing the Star of David, which the owner denied.
“According to the civil complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, one customer visited the coffee shop while scoping out a nearby venue for a workplace event. He was wearing a baseball cap with the Hebrew words ‘Am Yisraeli Chai,’ which translates to ‘The people of lsrael live,'” the report said.
He was confronted by a man who accused him, as a Jew, of being complicit in Israel’s defense of its own population following the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
The customer returned later, to be told he was not welcome, with “owner Fathi Abdulrahim Harara then allegedly joining yelling ‘Jew’ and ‘Zionist’ at him in the street,” the report said.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said, “It is illegal, intolerable, and reprehensible for any American business open to the public to refuse to serve Jewish customers. Through our vigorous enforcement of Title II of the Civil Rights Act and other laws prohibiting race and religious discrimination, the Justice Department is committed to combatting anti-Semitism and discrimination and protecting the civil rights of all Americans.”
The report said a similar circumstance happened to another Jewish customer, who allegedly was told to leave.
Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley said the events also have triggered a private lawsuit by the Anti-Defamation League.
“The federal lawsuit notes that, on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, the Jerusalem Coffee House announced two new drinks: ‘Iced In Tea Fada,’ an obvious reference to ‘intifada.’ It also introduced as drink, ‘Sweet Sinwar,’ an apparent reference to Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas who orchestrated the massacre,” he explained.
The complaint also charges the coffee house’s exterior side wall displays inverted red triangles, a symbol of violence against Jews that has been spray-painted on Jewish homes and synagogues in anti-Semitic attacks, he noted.