Gov. Josh Shapiro stops by Goldie to show support after viral protest

Gov. Josh Shapiro visited Center City falafel shop Goldie on Wednesday morning after the Sansom Street location was singled out during a march over the weekend that advocated for a cease-fire in Gaza.

“People have a right to peacefully protest a difference of policy in the Middle East or in Israel,” Shapiro told reporters after the visit, carrying a Goldie bag of falafel and a tahini shake.

“They don’t have a right to come and protest at restaurants simply because it’s owned by a Jew and hold that Jew responsible for Israeli policy. That’s the definition of antisemitism.”

The Philly Palestine Coalition led the three-hour demonstration Sunday that was attended by hundreds of people. The march started at Rittenhouse Square and ended in West Philadelphia with protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and an end to U.S. aid to Israel. The march is being remembered for a brief stop at the falafel shop, during which demonstrators stopped and chanted “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

A video of the crowd chanting spread quickly across the internet. Elected officials, including President Joe Biden, U.S. Reps. Dwight Evans and Brendan Boyle, and State Sen. Nikil Saval, were critical of the stop. Shapiro called it antisemitic that night in a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and doubled down Wednesday after talking to co-owner and Israeli-born chef Michael Solomonov and shop employees. Shapiro said employees appeared to be in “good spirits” and had been kept busy with business.

“They came and a mob protested a restaurant simply because it’s owned by a Jewish person,” said Shapiro.

Goldie is part of CookNSolo, the restaurant group owned by Solomonov. The restaurant group raised more than $100,000 after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel for the Friends of United Hatzalah, an Israeli nonprofit that describes itself as a volunteer EMS organization, which has provided emergency relief services to Israeli Defense Forces soldiers during the war.

» READ MORE: Viral chants at Goldie draw rebukes; protest organizers say criticism detracts from ceasefire demand

Organizers said that support is what prompted the chants at Goldie and a larger boycott of businesses “complicit in some degree in Israel’s system of occupation and apartheid,” according to Philly Palestine Coalition Instagram posts. Supporters of the boycott say critics are conflating criticism of Israel with targeting a faith group.

Shapiro said the explanation did not change how he viewed the situation, calling it a distraction from protesters’ “shameful conduct.” He also said he would be swift to condemn any hateful actions in the state — some supporters of the actions outside the Goldie shop have said Shapiro has not spoken against acts of Islamophobia as swiftly.

Shapiro pointed to an October protest at the state Capitol during which a man brandished a gun and pointed it at pro-Palestinian protesters.

“As soon as we were able to get all the facts together, a day or so later, we immediately called that out,” he said. “I will not tolerate Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism, homophobia, you name it.”

Shapiro also condemned the testimony University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill gave Tuesday before a congressional committee examining how universities are responding to antisemitism on college campuses.

Shapiro said he’d spoken to Magill multiple times and made “concrete recommendations” on what he thought would be necessary to ensure that all students feel safe on campus, which he said the school failed to do. He said Magill’s testimony Tuesday “took it to the next level.”

» READ MORE: Penn president Liz Magill got grilled by Congressional committee over the university’s response to antisemitism

When asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates the school’s code of conduct, Magill said it was a “context-dependent decision.”

Shapiro disagreed.

“That was an unacceptable statement from the president of Penn,” said Shapiro. “Frankly, I thought her comments were absolutely shameful. It should not be hard to condemn genocide. Genocide against Jews, genocide against anyone else.”

If calling for the genocide of Jews doesn’t go against Penn’s policies, Shapiro said, there’s something wrong with the policies, which the university’s board of trustees should address.

Penn’s board now has to decide whether Magill’s testimony reflects the views of the university, said Shapiro, who floated the idea of getting involved.

“I’d like to see what they do first before I determine my next steps,” he said.