BDS Activists are Refocused on Attacking Israeli, Jewish Businesses and Individuals 

BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaigns are resurgent in response to Israel’s operations against Hamas in Gaza following the terrorist group’s October 7 massacre. BDS is one tactic in the long history of campaigns and efforts to delegitimize and isolate Israel which in recent years has explicitly focused on the rejection, isolation and marginalization of Zionists.   

The latest campaigns directly target “Zionist” institutions, businesses or individuals – including popular actors -- that BDS activists believe are somehow complicit in Israel’s military response. While some of the targeted business owners and individuals are not Jewish, most are, a reality that underscores the antisemitic impact of these protests.  

Some of these campaigns have been around, in some iteration or another, for years. Many campus groups have demanded divestment from weapons companies and other businesses that contract with Israel.    

BDS activists are intensifying calls for action against companies already named on the official BDS site, and in addition to new, unofficial targets such as McDonald’s, Disney and Starbucks for their support of Israel. Disney donated $2 million to Magen David Adom, while the McDonald’s Israeli franchise donated free meals to Israel Defense Forces soldiers and Israeli hospitals. 

Numerous Starbucks in the U.S. have been vandalized and boycotted in the wake of October 7, in part because of the company’s perceived pro-Israel stance, and because Starbucks is suing the Starbucks Workers union for copyright infringement, after the union tweeted pro-Palestinian comments alongside their logo, which very closely resembles the Starbucks corporate logo.    

Vandalism of Jewish or  “Zionist” businesses has increased in the wake of October 7. For example:   

• December 16, New York, New York: New York City’s Upper East Side location of the kosher restaurant Hummus Kitchen was vandalized by a woman who ripped down the Israeli and American flags hanging inside the establishment. 
• December 16, Detroit, Michigan:  Anti-Israel protestors targeted Jeremy Sasson’s Detroit restaurant Townhouse, shouting outside Townhouse, “Jeremy, Jeremy, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?”  Sasson, who is Israeli and Jewish, has been targeted for his “unapologetic support and donations to Friends of IDF.”  Activists have also called for boycotts of his other restaurants, Prime and Proper, and Mad Nice. Sasson’s restaurants were also targeted in May 2021. 
• December 2023, Culver City, California: The headquarters of MeUndies, located in Culver City was vandalized with “Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea.” Owner Jonathan Shokrian is of Persian Jewish descent.   
• November 27, Flagler Beach, Florida: The Salty Turtle Gift Shop and several other businesses were found with the variations of the phrase "Jew child killers” spray-painted on them. Salty Turtle is owned by Israeli Jew Tomer Oshri.  
• November 1: Los Angeles, California: Canter’s Deli, a Jewish-owned business, was spray-painted with: "Israel's only religion is capitalism," "How many dead in the name of greed" and "Free gaza.[sic]”  
• October 25, 2023, San Francisco, California: Smitten, a Jewish-owned ice creamery, was vandalized with graffiti that stated "FREE PALESTIEN [sic]." A window of the business was also smashed.  
• October 18: New York City, New York: The 2nd Ave Deli was defaced with a swastika after owner Jeremy Lebewohl began posting Israeli flags on the store’s Instagram account.  

Several boycotts of “Zionist” businesses have emerged or been reintroduced:

• December 3, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: During a march organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition, protestors gathered outside Goldie, a popular Philadelphia falafel shop owned by Michael Solomonov, shouting “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” The protestors were upset that Solomonov has donated a considerable sum to United Hatzalah, a free emergency ambulance service that operates in Israel and the West Bank. This is the second time Solomonov’s restaurants have been targeted (see below).   
• November 28: Moderators at Archive of Their Own (Ao3), a popular fan fiction site, asked a volunteer to remove “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” from their status and suggested replacing it with language such as “I stand with Palestine” if they wanted to show support for Palestine. The volunteer did not, which prompted a short-lived call for a boycott of AO3’s parent company, Organization of Transformative Works.  

• November 17, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: During a march through Philadelphia, a small group of protestors gathered outside Laser Wolf, a Michael Solomonov restaurant, protesting his donation to United Hatzalah.   
• November 14, New York, New York: A Google user released a map of “Zionist restaurants” in New York City, which Google quickly removed, though not before users in the popular kosher Facebook group Great Kosher Restaurants Foodies noted its existence.  

• November 2, Houston, Texas: Moon Mehmood, a social media influencer, disseminated a list of businesses to boycott in the Houston area on her Instagram. Many but not all of these restaurants are owned by Jews or Israelis or even oriented towards those communities, though all participated in the "Mitzvah Meals" event on November 1, a fundraiser for “people who have been displaced by the fighting along Israel’s borders with Gaza and Lebanon as well as the reservists who have been called up to defend Israel after the terrorist attacks by Hamas.”   

• October 30, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philly Palestine Coalition began circulating a list of “’Israeli’ [quotation marks sic] Food & Zionist Businesses in Philly” to boycott and protest, charging that the restaurants are “appropriating” Palestinian culture and, more importantly, owned by Zionists.    

• October 15, Chicago, Illinois: In an October 15 Instagram story, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Illinois-Chicago asked for recommendations of Chicago-area Israeli restaurants to add to the group’s boycott list.   

Calls to boycott “Zionist actors” -- which includes singers, producers and other performers – have also emerged. Many, but not all, targets of these boycotts are Jewish and/or Israeli; they are accused of “supporting Zionist discourse” by expressing anger at the October 7 attacks, or not publicly sharing “sufficient” outrage at the Israeli counteroffensive.   

• Other online activists have pulled names to “boycott” from the signatories to an open letter from actors, directors and musicians demanding the release of Israeli hostages. Most but not all of the signatories are Jewish.   

  • The announcement that filming would soon being on the second season of HBO/Max show “The Last of Us,”  prompted calls for a boycott. Critics are angry about the purported “Zionism” of showrunner and game creator Neil Druckman, a claim based on a misreading of a 2020 interview, as well as series star Bella Ramsey’s reported pro-Israel stance.  

    Dec 1, 2023 (social media post): “don’t forget the creator of the games, who is also a showrunner, is a zionist who wrote the second last of us game to be based on how israel treats palestinians. also bella ramsey is a zionist [sic].” 

• SJP Miami University shared an Instagram post on October 15 calling on supporters to “unfollow” accounts due to “supporting Zionist discourse.”   

• Israeli- American actor Natalie Portman posted to Instagram on October 8, expressing her grief over the October 7 attacks. Several months later, some activists found the post and called for a boycott of Portman and her work.   

• “Stranger Things” star Noah Schnapp, who is Jewish, appeared in a video where others held stickers reading "Zionism Is Sexy" and “Hamas Is Isis.” He also “liked” a video from the Israeli iteration of Saturday Night Live (SNL) that mocked American college students and their apparent support for Hamas. Some fans of “Stranger Things” called for Schnapp to be removed from the cast and for a boycott of the final season.   

• Tomer Capone, Israeli and star of hit Amazon Prime show The Boys, was “discovered” to be Israeli and supportive of Israel by some fans -- and they are demanding a boycott of the show.