“Tensions rise in Philadelphia over boycott of Jewish-owned restaurants,” NBC titled a Nov. 8 article, covering targeted action against Jews in the City of Brotherly Love. To its credit, the outlet immediately detailed the targets of the anti-Zionist organization, Philly Bike On Your Left (BOYL), which had organized the protest to target Jewish businesses deemed as “Zionist establishments” (“Zionists” being those who believe that Jews, like all other peoples, have the right to self-determination in their indigenous homeland).
But NBC omitted key details surrounding the protestors’ messaging further exposing their antisemitic intentions. It also gave the protestors the last word on why the group chose to organize the event on the eve of Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass), the massive, state-sponsored night of violence against Jews on Nov. 9-10, 1938, across Nazi Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland.
The stores BOYL targeted: Mac Mart, K’Far Café, Huda, Goldie, Schlesinger’s and Dizengoff, are simply Jewish-owned venues. NBC notes that “half of the establishments targeted are owned by the Philadelphia restaurant CookNSolo, whose Israeli co-owners have publicly supported and raised money for Israel.”
What did CookNSolo actually do? Days after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, the organization pledged restaurant proceeds to United Hatzalah, Israel’s volunteer ambulance service — about $100,000, according to the group’s own announcement.
There was predictably no excuse provided by the organizers or NBC for targeting the other half of the Jewish-owned businesses. Mac Mart is a mac-and-cheese shop whose owner, Marti Lieberman, is Jewish. The New York Times noted that it had not given material support to Israeli institutions. Huda is owned by chef Yehuda Sichel. Schlesinger’s is a Jewish deli. NBC gave no explanation for putting those shops on the protestor’s hit list.
NBC did not note these specific details. Through this omittance, the outlet legitimizes the protestor’s antisemitic message and erases the context surrounding popular diaspora Jewish support for Israel in the wake of the vicious Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks against the Jewish state.
The stores are not the Israeli government, do not make military and political decisions on behalf of it, and certainly are entitled under the first amendment of the United States Constitution to voice whatever stance they feel about Israel’s war of self-defense in Gaza. And yet, NBC provided cover for the antisemitic demonstration, equivocating the discriminatory protest with counterprotesters protecting stores from the potential violence. It’s also worth noting, of course, that the war in Gaza formally ended with a ceasefire over one year ago, and yet the protestors still chose to stage the bike ride against Jewish businesses.
Three people were arrested Sunday, according to a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department, as about 300 pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with roughly 200 pro-Israeli counterprotesters.
Meanwhile, NBC’s Philadelphia affiliate station printed a statement by B’nai B’rith noting that the organizers of the demonstration had called the restaurant owners “disgusting humans,” while declaring that “these Zionist establishments must go,” noting that “this was not a protest of policy. It was a public campaign to intimidate Jews and drive them from their livelihoods because of who they are.”
CAMERA has, in the past, noted that coverage of similar boycott movements, like Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), oftentimes fails “to provide substantial background” on the antisemitic ideology of the movements, while omitting “the views of an impact on diaspora Jews.”
The national NBC did not include the same wording from the B’nai B’rith condemnation in their coverage, strangely. Additionally, while the NBC national desk did note that the protest fell on the eve of Kristallnacht, it ultimately allowed the last word to go to the protestors, who played ignorant on the obvious overlapping in dates. NBC noted that Philly Bike On Your Left stood “firmly against racism and oppression of all forms…” and that the ride was organized “around people’s schedules” and that any implications “about the timing of our ride are simply false.” That was the last time Kristallnacht was mentioned.
NBC also allows the unsubstantiated claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza to go unchallenged, reporting that CookNSolo had already been targeted by a boycott campaign that claimed that their restaurants “materially and ideologically support the ongoing occupation and genocide of Palestinians.” NBC did not note that both Israel and the United States vehemently deny the charge of genocide, leaving the only voice on the matter belonging to the protestors.
Finally, when mentioning the three individuals arrested during the protests and counterprotests, NBC does not mention several reports that one of those arrested was a 17-year-old anti-Israel demonstrator for allegedly assaulting a police officer.
NBC’s journalistic duties were not to accept every statement by the organizers at face value, and though it did point out widespread condemnation of the bike ride, it did not scrutinize Philly Bike On Your Left’s problematic statements or include the worst of the group’s statements. Instead, it downplayed the deliberate targeting of Jewish-owned businesses evoking one of the darkest antisemitic pogroms in recent on its anniversary. Nearly nine decades after Kristallnacht, NBC had an opportunity to expose disturbing parallels, instead of giving those targeting Philadelphia’s Jews the last word on nearly every contentious issue.