After the Goldie protest, one patron hears a haunting historical echo

Two years ago, I wrote about my efforts to combat burnout as a public school teacher with hummus and pita.

After one particular visit to the Center City restaurant Goldie — where the tea, chickpeas, and other Israeli comfort food were always a reminder of home — I argued that fixing problematic systems can often begin with something as simple as fixing someone a plate.

After the essay ran, the owner of Goldie, the award-winning restaurateur Michael Solomonov, graciously reached out, and we made tentative plans to bake together. It never happened — I learned I was pregnant shortly after writing the piece, and as anyone who’s been through it will tell you, morning sickness and first-trimester nausea have no place among the overwhelming aromas in an industrial kitchen.

Our little “chickpea” was born almost a year ago. We named him Judah after the biblical account of the patriarch Jacob and his wife Leah in Genesis 29.

So as I held my son, I was aghast as I watched video of the Sunday protest in front of Goldie. Footage shows marchers chanting, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” The protest elicited criticism from a host of elected officials, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, who called the demonstration antisemitic. The White House did the same.

Let’s be clear: Solomonov is not being targeted because of contributions to Friends of United Hatzalah — the medical service that partners with the Israel Defense Forces — as some online protesters have argued. Rather, he is being targeted for being a Jew.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been watching with growing concern as an Instagram account, billing itself as the Philly Palestine Coalition, has called for the boycott of Solomonov’s restaurants as well as those of other well-known Jewish restaurateurs.

A prior post from the activist’s account cites Solomonov’s restaurants — Zahav, Dizengoff, Laser Wolf, and Merkaz, respectively — as a part of an “ongoing colonial campaign of stealing, appropriating, and profiting off of Palestinian food and culture as a means of erasing Palestinian existence.”

New York Times food writer Kim Severson contextualizes the boycott campaign in light of a larger industry shift where “some supporters of Palestine argue that Israeli cooks are colonizers who have adopted certain Arabic dishes as their own, and thus contribute to the erasure of Palestinian culture.”

But it wasn’t just Zahav or Solomonov’s other pita-peddling restaurants that were listed as targets of the boycott on the account — Federal Donuts and K’Far were there, too. The account went further. All of the restaurants owned by Stephen Starr, who’s also Jewish, were listed for the initial boycott. Other Jewish-owned restaurants were classified as “Zionist.”

Even though my child’s name is Judah, I have concerns over Israel’s recent actions. I support a cease-fire.

I believe there should be a Palestinian state.

My heart was wracked as I read recent reports of premature Palestinian babies left to rot in a neonatal intensive care unit.

But as a mother of a half-Jewish toddler, I also fear the precedent we are creating when we stage a boycott on the premise of an owner’s cultural heritage.

While the Philly Palestine Coalition Instagram account describes itself as “A Philly-based Alliance of Palestinian, Black & Indigenous community members & orgs working to support & uplift Palestinian leadership & liberation,” we should all be concerned when we allow the use of another Jewish-identity convention — such as “colonialist” or “Zionist” — as the basis for targeting and intimidating members of the Jewish community.

» READ MORE: Intimidating Jewish businesses will not end the bombing in Gaza | Editorial

It’s not hyperbole to say that this all feels uncomfortably like the beginning of those attempts to disrupt and subjugate Jewish businesses after Germany passed the Nuremberg Race Laws in the 1930s.

To be sure, everyone has the right to protest peacefully. But we should all be concerned when any demonstration starts to echo the atrocities of the last century. What are we going to do next? Place a star on every Israeli- and Jewish-owned establishment after investigating the owner’s stance on the conflict?

What I am not asking is for everyone to have a seat at what Palestinian chef and author Reem Kassis describes as a “proverbial plate of hummus.”

What I am advocating is that we all have a critical eye for how the actions of the present could be repeating the kind of oppression we’ve seen too much of in the past — and how it might pave the way for even more going forward.

Lydia Kulina-Washburn is a high school English language arts teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. @LydiaKulina