Palestinian-owned Oakland cafe features drink named for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

(JTA) — A Palestinian-owned cafe in Oakland, California, has introduced a menu to celebrate its first anniversary that includes an item celebrating the leader of Hamas.

Near the bottom of its menu, the Jerusalem Coffee House advertises the “Sweet Sinwar” orange, ginger, and carrot juice. The $10 drink shares a name with Yahya Sinwar, the terror group’s leader and architect of its Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.

The cafe released the menu on Monday, the first anniversary of the attack and a day that featured competing pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian rallies across the United States, as well as expressions of communal mourning in Jewish communities.

Also on offer is the “iced in tea fada” iced tea, named after “intifada,” the word denoting Palestinian uprisings, the second of which killed some 1,000 Israelis two decades ago. And the menu’s design motif features inverted red triangles, a symbol used by Hamas to indicate military targets on Oct. 7.

A Jerusalem Coffee House representative declined to answer questions about the menu with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The representative asked this reporter via Instagram direct message to “share your opinion on whether or not you feel the media has been accurate in reporting on the genocide in Gaza?” and did not respond to further questions.

The menu, which the cafe posted on Instagram, has also circulated on social media, including by prominent right-wing influencer Andy Ngo, who shared it with his 1.5 million followers on X. Some users in his replies called to leave negative reviews for the cafe on Google Maps. A notice on the café’s Yelp page says it is currently being monitored by Yelp’s support team “for content related to media reports.”

Publicly, the cafe is striking a defiant pose

“Thanks to our beautiful community for the support and feedback about our new menu we look forward to continuing to build with you all,” the café said in a story on Instagram. “As we grow and our community continues to blossom these zionists will keep crying and calling for attention.. they’re having fun leaving shitty reviews on our Yelp; check out and leave a better review, rooted in honesty and authenticity of your experience at Jerusalem and pull up on us! We’re here till 3!”

Jerusalem Coffee House opened last year and, according to the publication Eater, is owned by Abdulrahim “Raheem” Harara, whose parents were born in Gaza. The café serves food and drink inspired by Palestinian cuisine. It also hosts fundraisers for the Palestinian Children Relief Fund, various workshops related to Palestinian culture and events for the Muslim community and local activists.

It is the latest eatery to use, or wade into, debate over the Israel-Gaza war with inflammatory language. In March, a Utah cidery declared, “No Zionists allowed.” And several kosher or Jewish-owned restaurants have faced protest or vandalism over their actual or perceived support for Israel’s military campaign.

In the Bay Area, local Jewish organizations took offense to the cafe’s menu.

“Praising the terrorist mastermind of the October 7th attack on Israel with the title ‘Sweet Sinwar’ and decorating a menu with inverted red triangles used by Hamas as a marketing symbol to glorify horrific atrocities is despicable and distasteful to everyone,” Marc Levine, regional director of ADL’s central Pacific chapter, said in a statement. “Celebrating murder, sexual assault and terror is abhorrent and has no place in Oakland and should be condemned by all.”

Tyler Gregory, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area told JTA in a statement that he felt the menu was of a piece with how Oakland’s city government has approached the Israel-Hamas war. Last November, the City Council rejected a bid to denounce Hamas, the same night that the council unanimously called for a ceasefire on the war in Gaza. It was “the most antisemitic room I have ever been in,” Gregory said at the time.

“It is no coincidence, given the City of Oakland’s many governmental failures to stand up for the Jewish community this past year, that Hamas mastermind Yahya Sinwar would be glorified in this sick way for the massacre of thousands of Jews,” Gregory said in a statement on Thursday. “We will continue to work with allied leaders in Oakland and across the Bay Area to curb the antisemitism that has continued unabated since last October 7.”

The cafe has not shied away from provocation over the course of its first year, which began with a soft launch in September 2023. In late June, Jerusalem Coffee House hosted a screening of the presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, and called the event: “White on White Violence: Collapse of the Greatest Settler Colonial State.”

A promotional post for the event featured swastikas on the eyes of a caricature image of Trump and stars of David on Biden’s eyes. Devil horns adorned both candidates.

Last December the cafe announced a special pay-what-you-can gingerbread latte promotion for Christmas Day. “I know we’re all hurting right now, and it might seem disingenuous to be festive during this holiday season,” the cafe wrote on Instagram, noting that public Christmas celebrations had been canceled in the West Bank because of the Gaza war. But it said it had decided to open for the day “to honor the call to bring global awareness to this horrific genocide carried out by zionism and white supremacy.”

The post concluded with a phrase widely used by Palestinian activists that many Jewish groups consider a call for the destruction of Israel — and an apparent allusion to debate over its meaning.

“From the river to the sea Palestine will Be free,” Jerusalem Coffee House wrote. “And yes we know what that means.”