Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 11, 2021

UPDATED: June 8, 4 p.m.

San Francisco Jewish business owner Manny Yekutiels popular, community-focused Mission District caf was vandalized over the weekend with graffiti that read Racist pigz and Zionist pigz.

Pictures of the graffiti, which was found on June 6, were posted on Twitter by Steven Buss, a software engineer, who tagged local politicians and wrote, these attacks on Jewish owned small businesses have to stop.

Yekutiel signed a June 7 tweet on the Mannys Twitter account that read, Thanks to everyone who has reached out following the recent vandalism at Mannys. Were stronger together and love our community. State Sen. Scott Wiener also tweeted, Targeting Jewish businesses is straight up antisemitic. We must speak out & condemn this hate. On June 8, S.F. Mayor London Breed published a tweet that said the city will not accept antisemitic attacks against anyone. Manny has been a leader in our city and an advocate for bringing people together. This kind of hate against any and all communities has no place in our city.

Since it opened in November 2018, Mannys a caf, political bookshop and community space frequently has been targeted by activists who oppose Yekutiels presence in the neighborhood. In the months after Mannys opened on the corner of 16th and Valencia streets, protesters with bullhorns would stand outside once a week, in one case chanting Manny is a Zionist and a gentrifier and Free, free Palestine.

The caf serves as a frequent event space featuring talks by high-profile progressive politicians and community leaders. The talks continued online throughout the pandemic.

The protests picked up steam after Yekutiel penned a January 2019 opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle in which he outlined his connections to Israel, where his father escaped to from Afghanistan.

As a liberal American Jew, I have complicated feelings about Israel, he wrote. I do not support everything that its government does (nor everything our American government does). Israel and the United States have provided my family with safety when other countries havent, but that doesnt mean I support the ending of innocent life.

He added, This complex issue is a perfect example of the need for high-quality discourse.

Mannys spokesperson David Perry declined to provide a comment about the recent vandalism. Supervisor Hillary Ronen, whose district includes the Mission, called the incident upsetting.

I find Manny to be a very reasonable person who is always open to dialogue on even the most difficult political issues, including the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ronen wrote in a statement to J. I believe it is more productive to express disagreement by engaging in conversation and debate, rather than resorting to vandalism of small businesses that offer services to the local community.

The graffiti at Mannys followed a spate of antisemitic incidents targeting Jewish spaces across the country in response to the recent Israel-Hamas fighting. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents in the U.S. increased by 75 percent during the two-week period in May when bombs were dropping on both sides. Graffiti reading Israil terror and Death to Israil at a Chabad preschool in San Franciscos Noe Valley was but one example.

Read more from the original source:
Manny's caf in Mission District hit with anti-Zionist graffiti J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

Category: Zionism
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