A pro-Palestine “boycott” bicycle ride targeting Jewish-owned businesses in Philadelphia for supporting Israel has been condemned as antisemitic by multiple state officials. Philly Bike On Your Left, which describes itself an “anti-facist, anti-Zionist, anti-cop” group, has organized the demonstration against six named cafes, delis and takeaway businesses in Rittenhouse Square on Sunday, the eve of the 88th anniversary of Nazi attacks on Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues. The group called on people to join and “show these Zionist business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are.” Its flyer singles out the eateries Mac Mart, Huda, Schlesinger’s deli, Goldie, K’Far Cafe and Dizengoff.
A post shared by Philly Bike On Your Left (@phillybike.onyourleft) Philly Bike On Your Left has insisted it is targeting the business owners for their support of Israel, not for being Jewish, but several lawmakers, including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Attorney General Dave Sunday, have slammed the demonstration for antisemitism. Many have highlighted the timing of the protest, set to take place the day before the anniversary of a Nazi pogrom known as Kristallnacht, ('the Night of Broken Glass'), when mobs in Germany and Austria burned synagogues, looted Jewish-owned businesses and homes, and assaulted and killed Jewish people. Philly Bike On Your Left have pushed back against those “invoking Kristallnacht,” sharing a post from an allied activist group calling it a “cynical take that is not only offensive to the historical victims of Nazi persecution but an intentional distraction.” It also stressed that the anniversary is the day after the ride.
CookNSolo, the parent company of Goldie, K’Far and Dizengoff, is owned by Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook who have publicly supported Israel, along with Schlesinger’s owner Allan Domb and Huda’s owner Yehuda Sichel, who has said he is “proud to be Jewish and supportive of Israel.” Mac Mart co-owner Marti Lieberman has said protesters have just assumed she supports Israel because she wears a Star of David necklace. Newsweek reached out to Philly Bike On Your Left, via social media, as well as CookNSolo, Schlesinger, Huda and Mac Mart, via email, for comment on Friday. Philly Bike On Your Left’s flyer, which has more than 600 likes on Instagram, tells participants to meet at Rittenhouse Square at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, before setting off at noon.
It demands that “these Zionist establishments must go.” Philadelphia Police Department has said it is involved in plans to make sure everyone is safe on Sunday. CookNSolo owners Solomonov and Cook have long supported Israel publicly–in March this year, they were awarded the Jewish National Fund-USA’s Tree of Life Award for their donations to rebuild communities in northern Israel after the October 7 attacks in 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people and abducting 251 to the Gaza Strip. Israel’s response has since killed 74,620 people in the Gaza Strip as of Friday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.
Schlesinger’s owner Domb, whose grandparents Joseph and Molly Schlesinger first opened in the deli in the 1920s, has also been open about his support for Israel, telling the Jewish Insider in 2023 that, when he was a Democratic Philadelphia City Council member (from 2016 to 2022) he was a “big supporter of all Jewish causes, including Israel.” But, on Tuesday, he told the outlet: “It clearly seems to me to be a high level of antisemitism because I’m Jewish.” He said he is planning on opening as usual and being at the deli himself. He said that “most of the time the initial noise is much greater than the reality” and he is “hoping there won’t be any type of violence” but has contacted the local police to help “be prepared.” Huda’s owner Sichel told the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) that this issue is “deeply personal” for him as the grandson of Holocaust survivors. He said he and his colleagues “won’t cower,” praising the Jewish community for their show of support since the protest was announced.
The eatery is not usually open on Sundays, but Lieberman told the JNS she plans to open the kiosk this weekend “to show that we won’t be scared into closing but most importantly, to say thank you to everyone who has rallied around us and the other businesses.” Shapiro’s office spoke out against the “boycott ride” in a statement from his spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky to the Jewish Insider on Wednesday, saying Pennsylvania State Police was coordinating with local police to “to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our neighbors in Philadelphia.” Attorney General David Sunday said in a statement on X that the “bike ride boycott of Jewish-owned restaurants in and around Rittenhouse Square on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht is deeply unsettling.” “By explicitly targeting businesses because their owners are Jewish, the organizers are engaging in a form of discrimination that falls back on some of the oldest antisemitic tropes and tactics in history,” he wrote on Wednesday. He argued that the march is not “not simply a protest directed at the policies of Israel” but that “it singles out our fellow Pennsylvanians based on their Jewish identity, targeting them for policies they have nothing to do with and no ability to affect because of their faith.” Similarly, Philadelphia Mayor Cherell
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