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California Cafe Kicks Out Man Wearing ‘Violent’ Star of David Baseball Hat, Owner Asks if He’s a ‘Zionist’

Jonathan Hirsch says he was kicked out of the Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland, California on Oct. 26, 2024 for wearing a hat with the Star of David on it. Photo: Screenshot

A cafe owner in Oakland, California kicked out a man for wearing a Star of David emblazoned on his baseball hat this past weekend, arguing that the religious symbol possesses a “violent” connotation and identifies him as a “Zionist.”

In a video posted on social media, Jonathan Hirsch, who is Jewish, was angrily confronted and asked to leave the Jerusalem Coffee House on the afternoon of Oct. 26 because of his hat. Hirsch and the cafe owner, Abdulrahim Harara, engaged in a heated exchange of words, in which the Jewish man accused the venue of practicing unlawful discrimination.

“You’re being asked to leave. You’re causing a disruption. This is a private business. You’re being asked to leave,” Harara said. 

“This gentleman asked me to leave because of my hat,” Hirsch said from behind the camera.

“This is a violent hat and you need to leave,” the owner added.

“My hat is violent?” Hirsch asked.

“Yes,” Harara responded.

“You can’t ask me to leave because of my religion,” Hirsch then said.

“Are you a Zionist?” the owner asked.

“I don’t have to identify myself,” Hirsch answered.

“Get out!” Harara ordered.

Hirsch accused the owner of discriminating against him based on his “protected class” and threatened to issue a lawsuit against the venue. The owner then pulled out his phone and threatened to call the police on Hirsch if he did not vacate the premises. 

In an interview with local Fox outlet KTVU, Kirsch explained that he regularly wears his hat with the Star of David on it.

“I wear this hat all the time. I mean, I’ve had this hat for years. And it means a lot to me. It’s meant a lot more over the last year,” he said, explaining that he and his 5-year-old son went to the the cafe because his child needed to go to the bathroom and his wife wanted a coffee.

“I wasn’t going out looking for a fight. But when someone comes up to me fighting, I can’t teach my son [that] Jews are these meek people that run and cower,” Hirsch told KTVU.

Videos showed Oakland Police Department officers later arriving at the scene and attempting to de-escalate the situation. They recommended that Hirsch leave when anti-Israel protesters started arriving.

The department is reportedly still investigating and has not determined whether the incident was a hate crime.

The Jerusalem Coffee House, which celebrates Palestinian culture, has previously raised eyebrows for offering two drinks that seemingly hint at support for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and violence against Israel. One drink is called “Iced In Tea Fada,” a reference to extended periods of Palestinian terrorism perpetrated against Israel known as “intifadas,” or violent uprisings.

The other drink is called is called the “Sweet Sinwar.” Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces earlier this month, was the leader of Hamas and architect of the terrorist group’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7. However, Harara denied that the drink was named after the terrorist leader.

 The cafe also reportedly displays on its menu inverted red triangles, a symbol used by Hamas to mark Israeli targets.

Jeremy Russell, spokesman for the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, told KTVU that Saturday’s incident was “one of the most clear-cut cases of anti-Jewish discrimination that I have seen.”

The post California Cafe Kicks Out Man Wearing ‘Violent’ Star of David Baseball Hat, Owner Asks if He’s a ‘Zionist’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria

Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.

The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.

The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.

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Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports

People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.

The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.

Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.

The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.

A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.

The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.

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Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.

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