Philadelphia Jewish Business Owners Targeted by Antisemitic Boycott on Eve of Kristallnacht Anniversary

‘No Business for Zionists’: Philly Activists Plan Boycott Ride Against Jewish-Owned Businesses on Eve of Kristallnacht

A bicycle demonstration is scheduled for this Sunday in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, and the flyer promoting it leaves little room for ambiguity. Organized by Philly Bike On Your Left alongside Boycott CookNSolo and the Philly Solidarity Calendar, the ride explicitly targets six local establishments — Mac Mart, K’Far Cafe, Huda Burger, Goldie, Dizengoff and Schlesinger’s — whose owners are Jewish or perceived to support Israel, theyeshivaworld.com reported. “No business for zionists! These zionist establishments must go! Not in our city!” one message reads. Another tells riders to “show these zio business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are.”

The promotional material, posted on social media, pairs those words with a graphic of a bicycle overlaid with red prohibition symbols crossed out over each business’s name, jpost.com reported. The post urges participants to “ride around Rittenhouse with us,” starting at Rittenhouse Square, adding: “We’ll flag as many bikes as we can and show our solidarity with the Palestinian community and oppressed folx everywhere.” The organizers frame the ride as political protest. What has turned the announcement into a flashpoint is the date: November 8, the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the November 9–10, 1938 pogrom in which Nazi mobs destroyed Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues across Germany and Austria.

Bike rally targets Jewish businesses in Philadelphia

“Now I Have to Worry About Being Born Jewish”

Marti Lieberman, 37, co-owner of Mac Mart, told the New York Post she was shocked to discover her business had been singled out. “It’s scary,” she said. “You can’t get a break, and now I have to worry about being born Jewish.” Lieberman said her business has no connection to Israeli politics and suggested the activists may have targeted her simply because she openly wears a Magen David necklace. “These people think I’m Netanyahu. I literally am just a Jewish girl from the suburbs who started a business,” she said.

Yehuda Sichel, 40, co-founder of Huda Burger and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, said the planned boycott brought back painful family memories. “As a Jewish business owner and grandson of Holocaust survivors, boycotts of Jewish businesses are very familiar to me, and not in a good way especially on the eve of Kristallnacht,” he said. He stressed that the threats would not force him or other owners to retreat. “They said on their own flyer they want to push Zionists out of their city, but obviously we are not going to be intimidated by this kind of stuff,” Sichel said, adding that the community had responded with overwhelming support.

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Officials Draw the Line at Identity-Based Targeting

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday warned that targeting businesses because of their owners’ Jewish identity is a deeply troubling form of discrimination.

“By explicitly targeting businesses because their owners are Jewish, the organizers are engaging in a form of discrimination that falls back on some of the oldest antisemitic tropes and tactics in history. This is not simply a protest directed at the policies of Israel, rather it singles out our fellow Pennsylvanians based on their Jewish identity, targeting them for policies they have nothing to do with and no ability to affect because of their faith.”

Sunday said. He added that violence or intimidation directed at the targeted businesses would be unacceptable.

That distinction — between protesting a government’s policies and marking people for exclusion because of who they are — is exactly where Jewish advocacy organizations say this campaign lands. The Anti-Defamation League’s Philadelphia office, the American Jewish Committee’s Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey office, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and StandWithUs issued a joint statement, carried by jpost.com.

“Let’s be clear: This is antisemitism. It is Jew-Hatred, plain and simple. Marking businesses for removal from Philadelphia is an attempt to intimidate, marginalize and exclude members of the Jewish community from the economic and civic life of our city.”

The groups called on Mayor Cherelle Parker, Governor Josh Shapiro, District Attorney Larry Krasner and other civic leaders to condemn the campaign unequivocally, urged the Philadelphia Police Department to ensure the safety of the businesses, their employees and customers, and asked Philadelphians of every background to patronize the targeted establishments in visible solidarity. Stop Antisemitism separately condemned the planned “boycott of the city’s Jewish eateries” as “grotesque”; its executive director, Liora Rez, said that boycotting Jewish-owned restaurants on the eve of Kristallnacht is “a chilling display of antisemitism.”

Philadelphia Jewish Business Owners Targeted by Antisemitic Boycott on Eve of Kristallnacht Anniversary — Photo: jpost.com

Pogrom Echoes Resurface in Modern Protest Demands

Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass” — began on November 9, 1938, when Nazi-organized mobs attacked Jewish communities across Germany and Austria. At least 91 Jews were murdered during the violence, thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized, and approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Nearly 88 years later, the Philadelphia ride is scheduled on the eve of that anniversary, with organizers openly demanding that Jewish-associated establishments be driven out of their neighborhood — a demand that echoes the economic exclusion the pogrom set in motion.

The planned protest comes amid growing concern over antisemitic incidents across the United States, with Jewish institutions, businesses and individuals increasingly facing harassment linked to hostility toward Israel. What remains open is how the city responds on Sunday: whether the officials’ condemnations translate into visible protection at Rittenhouse Square, and whether the wave of community support Sichel described will be enough to answer a flyer telling Jewish business owners they do not belong in their own city.