A newly opened Palestinian restaurant in Brooklyn has sparked ire with its menus that include the antisemitic phrase “From the river to the sea” — with locals bashing its owners for being “openly genocidal.”
Ayat owners Abdul Elenani and Ayat Masoud opened their third location earlier this month in Ditmas Park, where menus feature the phrase, “From river to sea” to label its seafood section as well as a crying Palestinian woman with the words “Down with the occupation.”
Residents have slammed the menus as “openly genocidal” on a community Facebook page, according to the Daily Beast.
But the owners have insisted that the inclusion of the phrase “From the river to the sea,” which the Anti-Defamation League has said advocates the elimination of the state of Israel, was misunderstood.
“Our interpretation of it is just simply freedom and rights to the Palestinian people between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea,” Elenani told the Daily Beast.
“We’re just against the Zionist mentality of, like, ‘Eliminate or flatten Gaza now,’” he said, adding he meant no harm to Jewish people.
“Our neighbors are Jews, our friends are Jews, we work with Jewish people all day every day,” Elenani continued.
“We do not hate Jewish people. It’s the opposite. Judaism and Islam, they are the two most similar religions.”
Elenani claimed he tried to explain his position on the Facebook page, but his comments were removed for being “explicitly political.”
He had hoped to tell Ditmas Park residents that he has 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.”
Inside his Brooklyn restaurant, Palestinian flags cover the walls along with pictures of people in traditional Palestinian clothing.
A mural also appears to show Palestinian children behind bars underneath the golden dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and Israeli soldiers pointing guns at a crying Palestinian woman.
Inside his Brooklyn restaurant, Palestinian flags cover the walls along with pictures of people in traditional Palestinian clothing.
Resident Dahlia Schweitzer said with all these images, she felt “they’re 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.’”
Another resident said they felt the owners were “obviously trying to instigate” a problem, while Lisa Javaherikia said the owners “have a right to say what they want, and I have a right to go or not.”
The restaurant had previously received a slew of one-star complaints following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israelis, including one saying: “I am not sure which I find more offensive, the food or the map outside,” according to a screengrab shared on the restaurant’s Instagram page.
Elenani said they were able to get Google to remove more than 110 negative reviews in response and were forced to disconnect the restaurant’s phone after receiving “nonstop” threatening voicemails, according to Fortune.
“The conflict is always there,” he told NY1.