Israeli-Canadian designer wins defamation lawsuit against Toronto restaurateur

Shai DeLuca, a prominent designer who grew up in Israel and served in the IDF, was awarded $85,000 (Canadian) in damages last week after three years of litigation against a Toronto restaurateur who attacked DeLuca as a “terrorist” with his “sniper rifle aimed at Palestinian children.” 

The news was posted by the Lawfare Project, a pro-Israel NGO, on X on Monday, with a snippet of the official court opinion. The full opinion was not immediately accessible. 

According to Toronto.com, DeLuca took issue with two Instagram posts by the local business Foodbenders, which had been the focus of controversy after the owner, Kimberly Hawkins, posted anti-Israel messages in the window of her store. These included  a sign that said “F–k Mossad, IDF, BIBI,” according to the Canadian Jewish News. Online, Hawkins posted “#zionistsnotwelcome.” 

We congratulate Canadian-Israeli interior designer & public figure Shai DeLuca on winning a defamation lawsuit against Foodbenders' Kim Hawkins.This case is a clear example that words, particularly defamatory and hateful ones, do have consequences. pic.twitter.com/kdKd71H7A1

— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) December 25, 2023

Hawkins was charged for violating Toronto’s Municipal Code, which forbids discrimination on the basis of “race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, or disability.”

Several delivery apps, including Uber Eats, Doordash, Ritual, and Square, cut ties with Foodbenders amid the controversy. The store was also vandalized, including with a spray-painted star of David on its door.

Case has gone on for years, restaurant has since closed 

The defamation case has dragged on since 2020, with an initial victory for Hawkins, who nevertheless, under the weight of the cases and controversy, announced in 2021 that she was closing the store. “Foodbenders was my entire life,” she wrote online. “But it has to be over now. My heart is broken.”

According to a statement shared on social media in the name of a member of DeLuca’s legal team, the judge found that “Foodbenders maliciously and unfairly defamed Mr. DeLuca without justification.” 

“These kinds of statements,” the judge apparently said, “not only affect people’s reputations, but they also contribute to prejudice, antisemitism and intolerance and have the potential to incite violence.”