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She lost a friend in Hamas’ attack. Then neighbors called for a boycott of her ‘ugly zio’ juice bar
When Brooklyn juice bar owner Reut Levi woke up in Israel on Oct. 7, the morning after a friend’s wedding near the Sea of Galilee, she saw she had missed 35 calls from her parents and over 100 push notifications from news outlets about Hamas’ attacks in the south. She soon learned that the terrorists had killed another friend of hers at the Nova music festival. Levi spent the next two weeks in her native Israel, grieving and worrying for her family’s safety.
The turmoil followed her home to Bedford-Stuyvesant, the Brooklyn neighborhood where she lives and opened Tamar Juice Bar in June.
Levi, 37, moved to what locals call Bed-Stuy 15 years ago, she said, because it seemed a safe, tolerant place for a lesbian like her, a person who feels most comfortable in multicultural places. In the few months since the juice bar opened, it had become somewhat of a neighborhood landmark, especially for young, queer Brooklynites.
But Levi learned after Oct. 7 that she has some neighbors who want to see her business fail, and that they said and wrote that it’s because she’s Israeli and Jewish.
“I didn’t expect this and I don’t feel safe anymore,” Levi said. “But I have no choice but to go on with what I’ve always done here.”
She also learned that she has friends she had never met before, mostly Jews and Israelis, who want her business to thrive in Bed-Stuy.
Her experience mirrors that of other business owners targeted since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war because they are Israel, pro-Israel or Jewish, and comes at a time of spiking antisemitism in the U.S. and and globally. Vandals defaced the facade of Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles, for example. And a Greek diner on Long Island withstood a boycott after its owner flew the Israeli flag outside the restaurant and plastered its windows with posters of those kidnapped by Hamas. Business tanked until droves of customers angered by the boycott began eating there. Levi’s juice shop has also enjoyed such support, but she still wonders whether it can survive war in the Middle East.
‘They ain’t welcome here’
Levi knew Tamar Juice Bar might be vulnerable in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack, as Israel began retaliating in Gaza. Both she and her business partner Michal Mualem are Israeli, Tamar is one of the most popular names in Israel and their menu has a strong Middle Eastern flavor. Levi decided to post only on her personal Instagram account — not the juice bar’s. Most of her posts memorialized the victims of Oct. 7. She did not call for retribution.
“My political view is that I really wish that the people of Gaza will have the most beautiful life as soon as possible,” Levi told me as she lit a cigarette. “They can have it. They must have it.”
Reut Levi serving customers in Tamar Juice Bar in Brooklyn on Nov. 8, 2023. Photo by Camillo Barone
But last Saturday, one of Levi’s customers on Instagram accused her of supporting genocide and called for a boycott of the juice bar. “The same way we are asked to boycott big corporations participating in the oppression of black/brown, let’s keep the same energy with those promoting racism and support of genocide right under our noses,” the customer wrote, tagging the the juice bar’s profile so her followers would know which business to boycott.
Levi decided not to respond so as not to stoke the vitriol. But then other Instagram influencers in Bed-Stuy began posting photos of the juice bar and screenshots of its Instagram profile, with some seemingly inviting neighbors to harass Levi. “Don’t go to this trash ass place yall. Matter of fact feel free to let them know how much they ain’t welcome here,” wrote one.
They posts kept coming: “Bed-Stuy Neighbors Beware: Tamar Juice bar is a Zionist establishment;” “Liberation from apartheid, from colonizers, from occupiers in Bed-Stuy;” “There are ugly zio businesses in our very own neighborhoods who steal & appropriate Pali food & culture.”
The next day the action moved from online to the real world. A woman showed up outside the juice bar, Levi said, and began taking videos of her and calling her a “racist Zionist who supports genocide.” Reut locked herself in the bar and called the police, who told the woman to get away from the premises. A few hours later seven other women entered the bar without ordering anything. Levi said one of them asked her: “Are you the Israeli Jewish person here?” They laughed at her, frightened her “like never before,” Levi said. Shortly after they left she found stickers outside the juice bar calling for “Global Intifada.”
“I lived in Israel. I know what an Intifada is, and I can assure you it’s not a good thing,” Levi told me.
A future in Bed-Stuy?
Levi got the idea for her business when she first moved to the U.S. and began working at a mall in upstate New York managing two kiosks which sold smoothies and ice cream. One day, she decided, she would also sell smoothies, but infused with the flavors of Israel. Tamar Juice Bar — tamar means “date” in Hebrew — offers a date-flavored smoothie. Another is called “Chic or Shuk,” a reference to Middle Eastern markets. Spiced honey cake is also on the menu.
The juice bar seemed a good fit for the neighborhood, but after Saturday’s incident, Levi feared her five-month-old business was about to die.
Then, on Monday afternoon, customers began showing up by the dozens, not to heckle, but to order smoothies, encouraged in private Facebook groups by Israeli and Jewish New Yorkers who had heard that she was being doxxed. A rabbi from Brooklyn ordered ten juices for ten police officers, and made them aware of the harassment Levi faced.
As she and I spoke outside the juice bar earlier this week, an Israeli man installed security cameras inside and outside the business. “I had bought them months ago but always felt safe here, so I didn’t install them,” Levi told me. “Today, however, I’m afraid, and this Israeli guy offered to install them for me for free to make me feel safer.”
Levi, who has removed every symbol of Israel and Judaism she ever had in her shop, worries about its future.
“I didn’t want to bring politics here. Jews and Israelis from all over New York have been coming in this week, but what will happen when they leave? Will my old customers from the neighborhood come back?”
The post She lost a friend in Hamas’ attack. Then neighbors called for a boycott of her ‘ugly zio’ juice bar appeared first on The Forward.
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As Gaza War Continues, Hamas Calls for Global Protests While Israel Marks Breakthroughs in Medical Innovation
A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
As the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas calls for global protests amid stalled Gaza ceasefire talks, Israel has broken new ground despite the ongoing conflict, achieving a major medical breakthrough in synthetic human kidney development.
The contrast illustrates a stark contrast between the priorities of Hamas, an international designated terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, and Israel, the lone democracy in the Middle East that has long been a leader in tech and medical innovation.
On Wednesday, Hamas urged worldwide protests in support of Palestinians, calling on the international community “to denounce Israel’s genocidal war and starvation policy in Gaza.”
“We call for continuing and escalating the popular pressure in all cities and squares on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday … through rallies, demonstrations and sit-ins outside the embassies of the Israeli regime and its allies, particularly in the US,” the statement read.
The Palestinian terrorist group also called to expose what it described as “the terrorism of the Zio-Nazi occupation against defenseless civilians.”
Hamas’s latest move against Israel comes amid stalled indirect negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal, which collapsed last month after the group vowed it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established — rejecting a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza.
In its statement, Hamas demanded the opening of all border crossings to allow immediate aid into the war-torn enclave and urged a global condemnation of “the international community’s inaction on the Israeli crimes.”
Amid mounting international pressure to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel announced new measures to facilitate the delivery of aid, including temporary pauses in fighting in certain areas and the creation of protected routes for aid convoys.
Israeli officials have previously accused Hamas of diverting aid for terrorist activities and selling supplies at inflated prices to civilians, while also blaming the United Nations and other foreign organizations for enabling this diversion.
Hamas’s statement also emphasized that the “global resistance movement must continue until Israeli aggression on Gaza ends and the siege on the coastal strip is lifted.”
Meanwhile, as Israel faces escalating hostilities and the heavy toll of war, the Jewish state continues to push the boundaries of innovation and resilience, achieving new medical breakthroughs while confronting ongoing challenges.
In a major medical breakthrough, scientists at Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University have successfully grown a synthetic 3D miniature human kidney in a lab using specialized stem cells derived from kidney tissue — one of the most promising advances in regenerative medicine.
Dr. Dror Harats, chairman of Sheba’s Research Authority, described this achievement as a reflection of Israel’s leading role in global medical innovation.
“Despite growing efforts to isolate Israel from international science, breakthroughs like this prove our impact is both lasting and essential,” he said.
In a landmark study, a team from Sheba’s Safra Children’s Hospital and Tel Aviv University’s Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine created synthetic kidney organs that matured and remained stable for 34 weeks — the longest-lasting and most refined kidney organoids developed to date.
Nearly a decade ago, the research team became the first to successfully isolate human kidney tissue stem cells — the cells responsible for the organ’s development and growth.
Previous attempts to grow kidneys in a lab using general-purpose stem cells were short-lived, typically lasting only a few weeks and often producing unwanted cell types that compromised research accuracy.
However, this Israeli research team used stem cells taken directly from kidney tissue — cells that naturally develop into kidney parts — allowing them to create a much purer and more stable model with key features found in real kidneys.
This medical breakthrough could have far-reaching implications, redefining the current understanding of kidney diseases and advancing the development of innovative treatments.
Researchers believe the model could help assess how medications impact fetal kidneys during pregnancy and move science closer to repairing or replacing damaged kidney tissue with lab-grown cells.
The discovery came days after researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and international partners discovered a way to boost the immune system’s cancer-fighting ability by reprogramming how T cells, which are white blood cells critical to the immune system, produce energy.
The researchers explained in a study published in the peer-reviewed Nature Communications that disabling a protein known as Ant2 in T cells greatly enhances their effectiveness against tumors.
“By disabling Ant2, we triggered a complete shift in how T cells produce and use energy,” Prof. Michael Berger of Hebrew University’s Faculty of Medicine, who co-led the study with doctorate student Omri Yosef, told the Tazpit Press Service. “This reprogramming made them significantly better at recognizing and killing cancer cells.”
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Netherlands to Push EU to Suspend Israel Trade Deal but Won’t Recognize Palestinian State ‘At This Time’
Netherlands Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on April 1, 2025. Photo: ANI Photo/Sanjay Sharma via Reuters Connect
The Netherlands is spearheading efforts to suspend the European Union-Israel trade agreement amid rising EU criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, while simultaneously refusing to recognize a Palestinian state, contrasting with other member states as international pressure mounts.
On Thursday, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp announced that the Netherlands will push the EU to suspend the trade component of the EU-Israel Association Agreement — a pact governing the EU’s political and economic ties with the Jewish state.
This latest anti-Israel initiative follows a recent EU-commissioned report accusing Israel of committing “indiscriminate attacks … starvation … torture … [and] apartheid” against Palestinians in Gaza during its military campaign against Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group.
Following calls from a majority of EU member states for a formal investigation, this report built on Belgium’s recent decision to review Israel’s compliance with the trade agreement, a process initiated by the Netherlands and led by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.
According to the report, “there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations” under the 25-year-old EU-Israel Association Agreement.
While the document acknowledges the reality of violence by Hamas, it states that this issue lies outside its scope — failing to address the Palestinian terrorist group’s role in sparking the current war with its bloody rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli officials have slammed the report as factually incorrect and morally flawed, noting that Hamas embeds its military infrastructure within civilian targets and Israel’s army takes extensive precautions to try and avoid civilian casualties.
In a Dutch parliamentary debate on Gaza on Thursday, Veldkamp also announced that the government would not recognize a Palestinian state for now — a position that stands in sharp contrast to the recent moves by several other EU member states to extend recognition.
“The Netherlands is not planning to recognize a Palestinian state at this time,” the Dutch diplomat said.
“This war has ceased to be a just war and is now leading to the erosion of Israel’s own security and identity,” he continued.
This latest decision goes against the position of several EU member states, including France, which has committed to recognizing Palestinian statehood in September.
The United Kingdom has likewise indicated it will do so unless Israel acts to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and agrees to a ceasefire.
For its part, Germany said it was not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term, and Italy argued that recognition must occur simultaneously with the recognition of Israel by the new entity.
Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia all recognized a Palestinian state last year.
Israel has been facing growing pressure from several EU member states seeking to undermine its defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
On Thursday, European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera strongly condemned Israel’s actions in the war-torn enclave, describing the situation as a “grave violation of human dignity.”
“What we are seeing is a concrete population being targeted, killed and condemned to starve to death,” Ribera told Politico. “If it is not genocide, it looks very much like the definition used to express its meaning.”
Until now, the European Commission has refrained from accusing Israel of genocide, but Ribera’s comments mark one of the strongest European condemnations since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
She also called on the EU to take decisive action by considering the suspension of its trade agreement with Israel and the implementation of sanctions, while emphasizing that such measures would require unanimous approval from all member states.
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Graduate Student Unions Promoting Antisemitism, Reform Group Says
Students listen to a speech at a protest encampment at Stanford University in Stanford, California US, on April 26, 2024. Photo: Carlos Barria via Reuters Connect.
Higher-education-based unions controlled by United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) are rife with antisemitism and anti-Zionist discrimination, according to a new letter imploring the US Congress’s House Committee on Education and the Workforce to address the matter.
“Tracing its roots to communism in the 1930s, the UE is a radical, pro-Hamas labor union that has a long history of antisemitism,” the National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW), one of the US’s leading labor reform groups, wrote on July 30 in a message obtained by The Algemeiner. “The UE openly supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is designed to cripple and destroy Israel economically. Today, the UE furthers its antisemitic agenda by unionizing graduate students on college campuses and using its exclusive representation powers to create a hostile environment for Jewish students. The hostile environment includes demanding compulsory dues to fund the UE’s abhorrent activities.”
NRTW went on to describe a litany of alleged injustices to which UE members subject Jewish student-employees in the US’s most prestigious institutions of higher education, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to Cornell University. At MIT, the letter said, “union officers” aided a riotous group which illegally occupied a section of campus with a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” participating in the demonstration and even denying access to campus buildings. UE members at Stanford University, meanwhile, allegedly denied religious accommodations to Jewish students who requested exemption from union dues over that branch’s supporting the BDS movement. And Cornell University UE was accused of denying religious exemptions in several cases as well and followed up the rejection with an intrusive “questionnaire” which probed Jewish students for “legally-irrelevant information.”
The situation requires federal oversight and intervention, NRTW said, including Congress’s possibly clarifying that student-employees are not traditional employees and are therefore afforded protections under sections of the Civil Rights Act which apply to the campus.
“These continuing patterns of antisemitism are illegal, immoral, and must be stopped,” the letter continued. “We encourage you to do all that is in your power to investigate and help bring an end to the UE and its affiliates’ nonstop harassment and intimidation of Jewish students … The Trump administration can also use tools available to it under Title VI and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act against colleges who work with unions to create a hostile environment for Jewish students.”
July’s letter is not the first time NRTW has publicized alleged antisemitic abuse in unions representing higher education employees.
In 2024, it represented a group of six City University of New York (CUNY) professors, five of whom are Jewish, who sued to be “freed” from CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY) over its passing a resolution during Israel’s May 2021 war with Hamas which declared solidarity with Palestinians and accused the Jewish state of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and crimes against humanity. The group contested New York State’s “Taylor Law,” which it said chained the professors to the union’s “bargaining unit” and denied their right to freedom of speech and association by forcing them to be represented in negotiations by an organization they claim holds antisemitic views.
That same year, NRTW prevailed in a discrimination suit filed to exempt another cohort of Jewish MIT students from paying dues to the Graduate Student Union (GSU). The students had attempted to resist financially supporting GSU’s anti-Zionism, but the union bosses attempted to coerce their compliance, telling them that “no principles, teachings, or tenets of Judaism prohibit membership in or the payment of dues or fees” to the union.
“All Americans should have a right to protect their money from going to union bosses they don’t support, whether those objections are based on religion, politics, or any other reason,” NRTW said at the time.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.