On Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a civil rights lawsuit against an Oakland, California, coffee shop that allegedly denied service to two Jewish customers. While the suit focuses on allegations of obvious anti-Semitic discrimination, Bondi herself has highlighted the coffee shop's use of offensive drink names and controversial pro-Palestinian images—both of which are obviously protected speech.
The suit claims that two different Jewish men were denied service at the coffee shop, called Jerusalem Coffee House, for wearing hats with the Star of David on them. The first man, Michael Radice, tried to go to the coffee shop in June 2024 to see if it could be a good location for a fundraising event for the organization he worked for. He was wearing a baseball cap with a Star of David on it, and the words "Am Yisraeli Chai," meaning "the people of Israel live." Radice walked up to the shop, and a man sitting at a table in front of the store—an employee, Radice later learned—asked him if he was a Jew and a Zionist and "began shouting numerous accusations at Mr. Radice, including that he was complicit in Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks," according to the suit.
Radice returned weeks later for the fundraising event, and "arrived early and entered the coffee shop to purchase a cookie, which he hoped would be seen as a sign of goodwill," according to the lawsuit. "Radice was not wearing the baseball cap he wore on his previous visit, nor anything else that would indicate his religious or political beliefs." The suit claims that the employee from the previous encounter told him, "You're the guy with the hat. You're the Jew. You're the Zionist. We don't want you in our coffee shop. Get out." The suit further claimed that Fathi Abdulrahim Harara, the shop's owner, and "two other employees followed Mr. Radice outside, yelling 'Jew' and 'Zionist' at him," even though Radice at no point said anything about his views on Israel.
