‘Anti-semitic’: “White House blasts pro-Palestinian protest outside Philly kosher restaurant

Washington, DC [US]: The White House labelled a pro-Palestinian rally, held over the weekend outside a kosher restaurant in Philadelphia, as ‘anti-Semitic’, The Times of Israel reported on Monday.

“Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” the crowd of dozens was filmed shouting on Sunday outside the Rittenhouse Square branch of Goldie, which was founded by Israeli-American celebrity chef Michael Solomonov, the daily reported.

“It is antisemitic and completely unjustifiable to target restaurants that serve Israeli food over disagreements with Israeli policy, as Governor Shapiro has underlined,” The Times of Israel quoted White House spokesperson Andrew Bates as saying.

“This behaviour reveals the kind of cruel and senseless double standard that is a calling card of antisemitism,” Bates said.

Shapiro, who is Jewish, called the crowd’s slogans “a blatant act of antisemitism — not a peaceful protest”.

“A restaurant was targeted and mobbed because its owner is Jewish and Israeli,” Shapiro posted on X, adding, “This hate and bigotry is reminiscent of a dark time in history,” The Times of Israel stated in its report.

A video clip of the protest showed a group of demonstrators gathered outside Goldie, a falafel shop owned by the prominent Israeli-American chef Michael Solomonov. In the video, the demonstrators were seen marching down the street waving Palestinian flags and repeating the chant, ‘Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide’,” CNN reported.

Further, as per the report, the incident was part of a broader march in support of Gaza and Palestinians on Sunday that began at Rittenhouse Square. The demonstration continued for at least 20 more blocks after the stop at Goldie, across the Walnut Street Bridge into University City and West Philadelphia. There, marchers joined an ongoing candlelight vigil and protest in front of a controversial housing project.

Meanwhile, The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said its objectives in northern Gaza are “nearly completed,” CNN reported quoting the head of the Israeli military’s Armored Corps as saying on Monday.

“The war objective in the northern Gaza Strip is nearly completed,” Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim told Israeli Army Radio on Monday.

According to CNN, the comments were echoed by the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a visit to the Israeli border with Gaza on Monday.

“This action that is happening now, in the north of the Gaza Strip, will soon lead to the breaking of the entire area of Gaza City and the north of the Gaza Strip,” Gallant said, according to CNN.

The report stated that this is not the first time Israeli officials have said that the military was close to achieving its objectives in northern Gaza.

On November 16, before a since-expired temporary truce with Hamas went into effect, the chief of the IDF, General Staff Herzi Halevi, said, “We’re quite close to destroying the military system that [Hamas] had in the northern Gaza Strip.”