The Hummus Kitchen restaurant on New York's Upper East Side has experienced a second antisemitic attack in recent days and in less than a week. The restaurant's owner, Sharon Huta, has had enough and is now calling on the authorities to act immediately. "We don't feel protected," he says.
Last Sunday, a woman was filmed trying to tear off an Israeli and American flag that had been erected there, calling it "repulsive" and pushing a female employee. The woman fled the scene immediately afterward, proudly waving a triple finger at the other workers.
Outraged kosher cafe owner sounds off on NYC officials after being subjected to second antisemitic attack following 'Soup Nazi' fiasco https://t.co/Gjnmk6xjsY via @nypmetro
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This incident comes less than a week after a similar anti-Semitic incident dubbed the "Nazi Soup Incident," in which another woman was filmed tearing out an Israeli flag, pouring boiling soup on a female employee and shouting at the other employees at the restaurant that they were "murderers."
Hummus Kitchen has three branches in the US, founded by Israeli Sharon Hota and serves fresh hummus prepared daily. He goes out to the table alongside freshly baked pita bread. "I'm very concerned about my employees and want them to feel comfortable," Huta told The Post.
The Soup Nazi https://t.co/9cQXDUWbWC
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"Of course I'm angry and I'm very sorry that we have to feel afraid to display our flags. The city is doing nothing to help us feel protected," he added angrily at the apparent incompetence and indifference shown by local police in handling the alarming incidents.
In the first incident that occurred in the restaurant, although the woman was identified and her address was located, no arrest was made against her. In the second case, the woman, whose identity was revealed by the Instagram page Stop Antisemitism, removed her social accounts as soon as she learned who she was. Here, too, no legal action has been taken against her, as of this writing.
"I'm shocked that these people can just walk into a restaurant and have the audacity to attack staff and vandalize property," Hota added. "They made it abundantly clear that we were targeted because of our origins and chose destruction as their form of protest. We don't make political statements. I am Israeli. This is my identity and food is a source of unity and peace for me. I guess peace is not everyone's plate of hummus," he added sarcastically.
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"I voted for [New York City] Eric Adams in the hope that he would restore peace and order to the city," he said. "On October 7, he spoke so eloquently about how we are wrong when Jews and Israelis are attacked. I'm not sure how these words are expressed on the ground, because so far we don't feel safe and secure. We feel left alone to fight for ourselves, while being exposed to every crazy person who comes."
Hutte added that in his opinion, "the mayor should put an end to all illegal protests that encourage vandalism. Violators of the law need to be arrested and the police need to be present on the ground."
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