A Portland coffee shop announced one week ago that it would be opening a free cafe for Palestinians in Gaza. After backlash for not sufficiently centering Palestinians on the ground, the coffee shop has canceled its plans.
Heretic Coffee Co., a nonprofit cafe in the quirky Oregon city, offers free food and drinks to “anyone who walks into our doors and orders the ‘SNAP breakfast.’ No questions asked, no proof needed,” according to its website.
(SNAP is a reference to U.S. federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly and colloquially still known as the Food Stamp Program, or simply food stamps.)
On Sept. 18, Heretic announced its plans to build a coffee shop in Gaza. “It will feed Palestinians every day for free, no questions asked,” the shop stated on Instagram.
The cafe accused Israel of “genocide,” adding that, in Gaza, “More than just their lives have been stripped away. Their culture, places of rest and businesses that gave them comfort and peace have been taken away. We’re hoping we can do what we can to change that.”
Heretic stated it would be partnering with Humanite Peace Collective, a volunteer group, to build a coffee shop “from the rubble of war.” It sought to fundraise $100,000 for the project.
The planned name? The Dept. of Peace.
The comments section was not pleased.
“I don’t think we need a coffee shop in Gaza,” one person wrote. “We are looking for a chance at life. I cannot even feed my cat properly and have to share my family’s food with it.”
“Why not just give money to folks on the ground in Gaza who are already doing that work?” wrote another. “People are dying and experiencing immense trauma, they don’t need a coffee shop run by U.S. citizens.”
Others asked why Heretic wasn’t working with existing groups in Gaza. “They are already there and have been feeding their own people quite well and could use the support, not development on their land by foreign interests,” one respondent wrote, tagging Gaza Soup Kitchen.
The criticism continued. “I"m almost positive there are Palestinians who would love the money to open a cafe to feed their own community,” and “Why Humanite? Why not the Sameer Project? Or other Gazan Palestinian groups on the ground there doing the work now?”
One commenter even criticized Humanite for referring to the conflict as “a ‘war’ between Hamas and Israel.”
“It’s giving liberal Christian missionary efforts,” one person wrote.
Hundreds of comments and one week later, Heretic updated its social media. “We have been working behind the scenes to sort through the responses, concerns and frustrations that have arisen following the announcement of our collaboration with Humanite Peace Collective,” an unnamed shop representative stated. “We have been paying attention, and taking the time to make sure we respond appropriately.
“To get to the point, we’ve decided to move away from this project and collaboration with Humanite. There have been valid concerns, and I’d like to take a minute to address them,” the representative wrote, pointing to poor framing of the initial announcement, not including the “Palestinian team with headshot and bios” and not getting feedback from “our community first before we went forward.”
According to the post, Humanite will continue the project without Heretic, using the $40,000 already raised by the online fundraising campaign.
“With a portion of the funds already raised, the Palestinian team leading the way on this project put together an event at a Gazan orphanage, where children played, laughed and ate,” the representative wrote.
The shop said it will be focusing its efforts on Oregon going forward.
