The fierce Iron Sword War waged over the past month continues to make its mark, bringing tensions to new heights abroad as well. The number of Jewish businesses suffering from boycotts and anti-Semitic attacks in various countries around the world was recently joined by another café in New York, USA. This was when pro-Palestinian employees abandoned the business and left their positions after the owner asked to have a conversation with them about the pins they wore with the words Free Palestine.
Aaron Dahan, manager of Caffe Aronne, told the Page Six website of the New York Post that he was left with a shortage of workers after he asked to speak to two of his employees about the pins they wore on the lapel of their clothes that read "Free Palestine." Instead of being open to dialogue, he said, the two left and joined a series of other employees who decided to leave in protest of the café's pro-Israel stance and support for Israel.
"Our employees were young," Dahan said. "They think they know everything, liberal college graduates. They think we support genocide and colonialism. They know the 'keywords' in the discourse, but they have no idea what they mean." Dahan, himself a young man and only 25 years old, said that since October 7, the day the war broke out, five baristas had left his café.
Aharon added that the café, which opened only about ten months ago, almost had to close its doors that morning the baristas left until his mother came to his rescue along with dozens of Jewish community members who came to support the café, whether by buying or working hands. "We hung an Israeli flag outside and started a campaign to collect money for Magen David Adom," Dahan said, "and our employees were not in favor of it," he added, recounting the disappointment with the staff he saw as family. "I knew they thought that way, so I suggested we sit down and talk about it. We will ask questions. We will learn, we will understand that we are not here to kill each other, but there was no one to talk to."
As soon as word spread that he might have to close the café's doors, rabbis, doctors and local residents came to support and spread the word. "It was crazy," Peggy Dahan, Aaron's mother, told The Post. "People came, hugged. There was a line that stretched all the way across the street. It just shows what a strong, supportive community we have."
Bina Daba, a customer who came to the scene to offer her help, said: "Everything they need, is done." She added: "This anti-Semitism is so frightening. I know these young baristas. I don't know what they are anymore. Ignorant? Brainwashed? Full of hatred? It's terrifying that this is what's happening in this country and I hope there are those who know how to fix it."
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