The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia urged people to “refrain from engaging with any protesters” during an anti-Israel boycott bicycle ride targeting Jewish-owned businesses near Rittenhouse Square slated for Sunday, the day before the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
A community-organized food crawl supporting the businesses, organized in response to the antisemitic boycott, is scheduled for the same time and place, starting at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday at Huda, a Jewish-owned burger restaurant.
The planned bicycle boycott ride targets Huda, K’Far Café, Mac Mart, Dizengoff, Goldie and Schlesinger’s. (Goldie, a falafel restaurant, is kosher.)
“As we show up for these establishments, our primary focus must remain on supporting the owners, staff and overall community atmosphere,” the Federation stated.
“The most powerful response we can offer is not conflict but proudly and peacefully enjoying the food, atmosphere and togetherness that these wonderful businesses bring to Philadelphia,” it said.
The Federation encouraged people to visit or order takeout from the restaurants, buy a gift card, bring along someone new and “make your voice heard by contacting your local and state elected officials to share your concerns and perspective on these issues.”
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission noted that the boycott is slated for “the eve of the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi campaign of violence and destruction directed at Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues.”
“Publicly identifying Jewish-owned businesses, and declaring that they must go, sends a message to Jewish Pennsylvanians that they are unwelcome in the economic and civic life of their own communities,” stated Andrea Martin, a member of the state panel.
The commission cited an Anti-Defamation League audit, which recorded 281 anti-Jewish incidents in Pennsylvania in 2025.
“Under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of religious creed, national origin and ancestry in education, employment, housing, commercial property or public accommodation,” the commission stated.
It urged victims to file complaints.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker stated that “freedom of speech and freedom from fear are not competing values.”
“Everyone has the right to peacefully protest and express their political views,” Parker said. “But singling out businesses because their owners are Jewish is unacceptable and has no place in our city.”
The mayor said that she has directed the police commissioner to “coordinate closely with community and partner agencies,” and the Philadelphia Police Department will monitor the demonstration to protect “residents, businesses and houses of worship and safeguard the constitutional rights of those demonstrating peacefully.”
The police department told JNS that it was aware of the boycott ride and had been in contact with organizers of the food crawl.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Josh Shapiro said that the “bike ride, masquerading as a protest to advance the cause of justice, is nothing more than blatant antisemitism designed to intimidate and drive Jewish businesses out of our communities, and there is no place for that in our commonwealth.”
Shapiro, who is Jewish, was the victim of an antisemitic attack in 2025, when Cody Allen Balmer firebombed his home on the first night of Passover due to the governor’s support for Israel. In 2026, another man, Richard John Franklin, was arrested for threatening to burn down Shapiro’s home while hurling antisemitic slurs.
‘An atmosphere of fear’
State representative Dan Frankel and state senator Judy Schwank, co-chairs of the Pennsylvania Legislative Jewish Caucus, said jointly that the aim of the boycott organizers is to kick Zionist business owners out of the city.
“Legitimate political protest is aimed at power: a government or a decision-maker,” they wrote. The boycott “is aimed at shop owners and the people who work for them, targeted because they are Jews,” they said.
Schwank recently introduced legislation adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred, which includes holding Jews responsible for Israeli actions, into state law. She told JNS that she expects Shapiro to sign the bill if it passes in the next legislative session.
A spokeswoman for Frankel told JNS that the state representative will not be at the food crawl on Sunday because he lives on the other side of the state. But “he’s been to many of those restaurants before,” she said.
“He looks forward to supporting them again next time he’s in town,” she told JNS.
Boycott organizers defended their plans on social media as “anti-Zionist,” not Jew-hatred, they said. All the business owners are either Israeli or Jewish. There are more than 30,000 self-identified Christian Zionists in the United States, according to the Religion Media Centre. The boycott does not target Christian-owned restaurants.
“No one would think to target a Chinese restaurant over Beijing’s policies or a French bistro over decisions made in Paris,” Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told JNS.
“Yet Jewish businesses are being held responsible for the actions of a government thousands of miles away, regardless of their actual beliefs or affiliations,” he said. “That is not a legitimate political protest. That is antisemitism.”
“History rarely announces itself with shattered glass. It begins quietly, with boycotts and whispered exclusions, with the slow narrowing of who belongs,” he said. “Kristallnacht was not the beginning but the culmination of a process that started with the simple act of deciding that Jews were outsiders.”
State representative Ben Waxman said that people have the right to criticize Israel and protest foreign policy, but “those decisions are made in Washington, not in the kitchens of Center City restaurants.”
“Holding your Jewish neighbors responsible for a foreign government’s actions is antisemitism,” Waxman said. “No one should have to pass a political test to run a restaurant, earn a living or feel welcome in the neighborhood we share.”
“Just one day before the anniversary of Kristallnacht, anti-Israel groups in Philadelphia have planned a ‘boycott ride’ aimed at forcing Jewish and Israeli-owned businesses out of the city,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who is Jewish.
“We must stand proudly with these businesses and reject antisemitic hate in our communities, plain and simple,” he said.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) called the boycott a “vile display of antisemitism” and said that “we can’t allow antisemitic intimidation to be normalized.”
State representative Amen Brown said that the boycott ride “is not just disturbing” but also “disgraceful, hateful and completely unacceptable.” Philadelphia Council president Kenyatta Johnson condemned the targeting of Jewish-owned businesses and said it would create “an atmosphere of fear.”
JNS asked the lawmakers if they would be participating in Sunday’s food crawl.
Many have flooded social media with comments supporting the businesses, and some have said that they already ordered takeout and catering. A restaurant owner told JNS that people have sent her Venmo payments without ordering anything.
Actor and Jewish activist Michael Rapaport called boycott organizers “sick animals” and said he would be in Philadelphia next week “with cash to spend.”
