Description
California coffee shop workers were filmed denying a Jewish customer access to the restroom after she complained it was filled with anti-Semitic graffiti — telling her “Free Palestine” and accusing her of wanting to use the facilities because “Israel loves taking private property and saying it’s their own.”Three employees at Farley’s East in Oakland stood in front of the bathroom and told a distressed-sounding woman filming them that she had to leave.“I want to go in the restroom,” the woman repeatedly implores the staffers, who tell her it’s private property even while confirming she was a customer who’d eaten there.A male staffer then smiles as he tells her: “I know Israel loves taking private property and saying it’s their own, but we gotta have … ”As the woman again says that she “was a patron here and I have a right to go into the restroom,” the man replies, “And we have a right to refuse service.”When an employee of a neighboring business steps in to offer the use of her company’s bathroom next door, the woman filming replies firmly: “No, I want to use this one. I should not be excluded and other people allowed.”One of the female workers blocking her way and trying to boot her then notes that the customer will only see antisemitic graffiti — suggesting she agrees with at least some of the messages.The customer is finally allowed in after asking: “If you agree with [the graffiti], why are you afraid that I will take a picture of it?”“Oh, actually, great — please!” the male worker says with apparent joy at what she is about to see.She then films messages including “Zionism = Fascism,” “Your neutrality/apathy is enabling genocide” and “Free Palestine.”“History didn’t start in 1948, lady,” the male worker quips while the patron quickly films the inside of the restroom.“Free Palestine. Now, please leave,” one of the women says.“Free Palestine,” the man agrees, smiling and saying, “It’s always great. We LOVE it” as she films him.The video quickly went viral, with more than 2.6 million views since it was posted late Tuesday by StopAntisemitism.“All three employees need to be fired – this is INEXCUSABLE!” the watchdog group wrote.Farley’s East confirmed the incident happened at its coffee shop — calling it an “error” while only saying it had “taken corrective measures with our staff,” without elaborating on what that meant.“As context, hate speech graffiti was written in our bathroom. We do not support hate speech; this does not reflect our values,” the coffee shop wrote in what it called “a sincere apology.”“After a customer used the bathroom and wished to return to document the graffiti, they were initially denied access and then allowed to enter the bathroom to film the graffiti. We apologize for this error and the distress caused to the customer,” the statement continues.“We’re committed to ongoing staff training for a safe and welcoming environment. Thank you for understanding that we are a small business do