- Staff at Farley's East in Oakland prevented Jewish women from documenting anti-Semitic graffiti in their bathroom
- The family café has now apologized and taken 'corrective measures' against the employees involved
Coffee shop employees in California have been caught on camera trying to kick out a Jewish woman after she complained about anti-Semitic graffiti in their restroom.
Staff at Farley's East in Oakland blocked the woman when she tried to enter the bathroom to take a photo of the writing, which read “Zionism = Fascism” and “your neutrality enables genocide.”
She was verbally abused by staff who repeatedly told her to leave the 'private property' – with one of the three staff telling her: 'I know Israel likes to confiscate private property and say it's their property , but we have to get on with it.'
The family-owned pub has since apologized for the incident and said it had taken 'corrective action' against staff. It is not known whether they will remain in service.
Staff at Farley's East in Oakland tried to kick out a Jewish woman after she tried to take a photo of anti-Semitic graffiti in their restroom
On the bathroom of the cafe was written: 'Zionism = Fascism' and 'Your neutrality makes genocide possible'
The video shows the woman standing in front of three employees who denied her access to the toilet door.
An employee in a yellow hat told her, “It's private property, I want you to leave.”
Her colleague then intervened and said, “I know Israel loves to take private property and say it's theirs, but we have to face it.”
The disbelieving woman replies, “You won't let me into the toilet, will you?”
She is then asked to leave again by the worker in the yellow hat, who accuses the woman of misgendering a colleague.
The altercation continued and the woman – referring to the graffiti inside – said: “Why are you afraid I'll take a picture of it if you agree?”
This prompts the group to give in and let her into the bathroom where the woman films the writing scrawled on the walls.
As she zooms in, one of the employees shouts: “History did not begin in 1948, lady,” referring to the year the state of Israel was founded.
Once she obtains the video, the woman is led out of the bathroom as staff shout “Free Palestine” at her.
The woman had noticed the graffiti and complained to the staff, who then tried to prevent her from returning to take a photo
At one point, the woman was asked to leave the private property, before an employee intervened with: “I know Israel likes to confiscate private property and say it's their property, but we have to move on.”
Farley's East was forced to issue a 'sincere apology' for the incident and confirmed it has taken 'corrective action' against the staff involved
Following backlash against the video, Farley's East was forced to publicly apologize.
'We would like to offer an acknowledgment and a sincere apology. For context, hateful graffiti was written in our bathroom. We do not support hate speech; this does not reflect our values,” the cafe said in a statement on Facebook.
'After a customer used the bathroom and wanted to return to document the graffiti, he was initially denied entry and then allowed to enter the bathroom to film the graffiti.
'We apologize for this error and the inconvenience caused to the customer. Together with our staff, we took corrective action and removed the offending graffiti.
'We are not anti-Semitic; we value diversity and inclusion. We are committed to ongoing staff training to provide a safe and welcoming environment.”