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“Zionist Pigz” Graffiti Found on SF Jewish-Owned Café

Jewish groups and leaders condemned the vandalism.
[additional-authors]
June 8, 2021
Photo from Twitter

Graffiti stating “Racist Pigz” and “Zionist Pigz” was found spray-painted on a Jewish-owned café in San Francisco on June 6.

The café, Manny’s, is owned by Manny Yekutiel, who has written about how his father sought refuge from Afghanistan in Israel; Yekutiel has also written that he supports Israel’s right to exist but disagrees with the actions of the Israeli government.

Jewish groups and leaders condemned the vandalism.

“Scapegoating, targeting & vandalizing Jewish-owned businesses or community institutions is not legitimate protest or peaceful activism,” Anti-Defamation League San Francisco tweeted. “It is #Antisemitism.”

American Jewish Committee Director of Combating Antisemitism Holly Huffnagle similarly tweeted, “Vandalizing stores with anti-Israel graffiti simply because the owner is Jewish is a clear and disturbing example of antisemitism masked as anti-Zionism. This cannot stand.”

She added in a subsequent tweet that Yekutiel “is a leader on so many pressing societal issues and to see anti-Jewish racism targeting him is a disservice to all fighting for a more just society.”

 

State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) tweeted that Manny’s has been targeted on multiple occasions. “Targeting Jewish businesses is straight up antisemitic. We must speak out & condemn this hate.”

 

Alex Ryvchin, writer and co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, also tweeted, “Merely writing ‘Zionist’ in place of ‘Jew’ doesn’t make this less antisemitic. It would be like claiming that an attack on a Black church isn’t racist, it’s merely a commentary on the ideology of the Black congregants.”

 

Yekutiel said in a statement posted to the Manny’s Twitter account, “Thanks to everyone who has reached out following the recent vandalism at Manny’s. We’re stronger together and love our community.”

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