NYC’s only Ethiopian-Israeli restaurant closes after anti-Zionist harassment: ‘So much animosity’
The owner of New York City’s only Ethiopian-Israeli restaurant claimed she was forced to close because of a wave of harassment over the Gaza war — prompting calls for state and city authorities to launch a civil right probe into antisemitism.
Ethiopia native Beejhy Barhany, who opened Tsion Cafe in Harlem in 2014, said vitriol and hate directed at the eatery intensified after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
“Everything kind of changed — so much animosity,” Berhany, who immigrated to Israel before moving to New York, told Jewish Week.
The situation worsened when she dropped meat from the menu in February 2024, to go fully vegan and kosher, she said.
“I was proud to be Jewish. I wanted to illuminate that,” Barhany told Jewish Week, in a story published Tuesday.
“But from the moment we pivoted to be kosher, it became worse and worse.”
The restaurant received harassing phone calls and one day a “bunch of Gen-Z’s passing through said, “Don’t ever come to this place. It’s owned by Israelis. By Zionists,” Barhany recalled.
“It’s kind of tiring. You’re here to nourish the community and it feels like you are perceived like the enemy,” she told the Jewish outlet.
Hearing that the restaurant had closed for regular dining, the Jewish Community Relations Council filed formal complaints with the offices of state Attorney General Letitia James and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to open civil rights probes.
“No small business owner should ever have to fear closing their doors because of their identity. What Beejhy Barhany, owner of Tsion Cafe in Harlem, has experienced is a stark reminder of the climate of antisemitism we are living in today,” JCRC CEO Mark Treyger said Thursday.
Some anti-Israel critics targeted Barhany and her restaurant for harassment simply because she is Israeli and Jewish, Treyger said.
“Harassing a Jewish small business owner because she is Israeli and Jewish — and attempting to hold her personally responsible for Israel’s actions — is antisemitism, plain and simple,” he said.
“No one should be intimidated into changing how they operate their business because of hate.”
City Comptroller Mark Levine, who said Tsion Cafe was one of his favorite restaurants, called out the harassment as “blatant bigotry.”
“Now they are closing their doors. Why? Because of a constant stream of animosity, that got even worse when they went kosher two years ago,” Levine, who is Jewish, said in a statement on X.
“This is blatant bigotry. I am deeply disturbed by this and you should be too.”
Other Jewish eateries, including Breads Bakery on the Upper West Side, have also been targeted by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel critics.
Barhany is the founder of the Beta Israel of North America Cultural Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating the legacy of Ethiopian Jews.
The offices of AG James and Mayor Mamdani had no immediate comment.
